'It's for the haters' - Mohammed Siraj opens up about his 'finger on lips' celebration

Mohammed Siraj scalped four wickets in the ongoing second Test between England and India. The pacer led the bowling attack owing to which the hosts were wrapped up at 391 in the first innings. Siraj opened up about his ‘Finger on Lips’ celebration style after the end of play on Day 3.

Siraj, who made his Test debut in Australia last year, has emerged as one of the dependable bowlers of the Indian side. He has honed his craft and produced crucial performances for the side. In the second Test, he picked up the crucial wickets of Dominic Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Jonny Bairstow, and Ollie Robinson. When asked about his celebration after picking up the wicket, the speedster asserted that it was a way to answer his critics.

“The celebration style is for haters (critics), as they used to say a lot of things about me, that I cannot do this thing…So I thought of answering them with my ball.” Siraj said as reported by Times Now News.

Fast bowlers play an important role in England: Mohammed Siraj

Siraj bowled consistently at one length and maintained accuracy throughout his spell. This troubled the batting line-up of the hosts and the bowler reaped his rewards. Siraj further highlighted the role of pacers in the English conditions and stated that the plan of the team was to stick to consistent lengths.

“Fast bowlers play an important role in England. We were bowling at consistent lengths. Our plan was to bowl consistently at one length. I was looking to bowl at one spot consistently even during my Ranji Trophy days. My simple plan was to not try much hit at one spot consistently,” he added

The English conditions are often tough and to adapt to it and make most of the surface is a challenge for the players. However, Siraj kept bowling short to Bairstow and tried to break his resilience. The plan to keep bowling the short deliveries worked out as India got the breakthrough. He switched to round the wicket and bowled it around the leg. Bairstow looked to pull it but the ball hit his gloves and he was caught by Kohli.

“The wicket wasn’t helping that much so we planned to use a bouncer as after the next eight overs, a new ball would have been taken. So the plan was to bowl short balls,” Siraj added.