Mohammed Siraj ensures early game lead as Team India beat England in ODI series

It is difficult not to associate the stellar display from Team India’s bowling department with the team’s 2-1 series triumph over Team England on Sunday. While wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant slammed his best maiden century in ODIs, one of all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s career-best bowling plays captivated international cricket enthusiasts.

Led by Pandya, the team claimed all 10 wickets and four overs plus to spare in the first innings. Team India continued their advance to corner the limping Team England and their batting department. Fellow bowler Mohammed Siraj was responsible for beating England’s batters by dismissing Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root early in the game.

Siraj ensures early game lead for Team India

Siraj has been improving his plays ahead of the team’s matchup with England. He was well aware that he was lacking good performance back in the Indian Premier League 2022 and getting the ball past the batsman while breaking the wicket is on the top of his priority list in the ODI series — and that is exactly what he did playing Team England.

“I was waiting for this opportunity. I was working a lot on the outswing during practice, I was not thinking about executing it in the match, but it landed well. This Indian bowling unit is excellent, like how Hardik came in and took the wickets of their well-set batters, that phase was really crucial for the team,” Siraj told BCCI.tv.

Team India right-arm fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was injured early in the game and Siraj had to play as his replacement. In the second over of the innings, the 28-year-old took the wickets of Bairstow and Root. Siraj took Bairstow out with delivery at mid-off and shortly after that Root was also taken out.

Having someone with the exact same caliber as Bumrah was beyond crucial for the team. Back in the first ODI series, he recorded six wickets to ensure the early game lead is in the hands of Team India. Eventually, India’s 1-0 series lead was greatly attributed to Bumrah’s bowling play.

Unfortunately, he missed out on the last series against England after sustaining back spasms, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said via an announcement. Team captain Rohit Sharma also gave an update about the fast bowler’s condition and revealed that Siraj had to be rolled out.

"We have got one change. Jasprit (Bumrah) has got back spasms and we don't want to take any chance. Mohammed Siraj is playing today," Rohit said.

"We are gonna bowl first. It looks like a good track and won't change for the course of 100 overs. It is the series decider and we have played some good cricket on the tour, we took the learning from the last game and hopefully will rectify the mistakes. We have bowled well in the limited overs leg, the T20 series as well. Hopefully, we can restrict them today to a reasonable target."

Helping hand, upcoming matchups

Aside from Siraj, Both Pandya and Pant were also there to back up the team. The duo went for 133 runs on the fifth wicket. However, Pandya was shortly dismissed after posting 71 points and Pant was left to finish what they started. The 24-year-old added 125 points with no outs and forced England to a defeat with 47 balls to spare.

Pandya was named Player of the Series and Pant followed suit with Player of the Match. Awarding Pandya with such an award was deserving since he had a terrific feat in the series against England. The 28-year-old recorded his career-best bowling figures of 4/24 and throughout all three formats playing the Queen’s team, he made a double of fifty and four wickets.

Up next for the Men in Blue is ODI series matchups against West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval on July 22, 24, and 27.