"This Indian bowling unit is excellent" - Mohammed Siraj on Team India's bowling performance in the ODI series against EnglandΒ
Team India pacer Mohammed Siraj lavished praise on his fellow bowlers' performance during the recently concluded ODI series against England. The bowling unit successfully managed to bowl out the opposition across all three matches.
Claiming all 10 wickets with over four overs to spare in the first innings, the bowlers made sure England were short of a formidable total on a good batting surface in Manchester.
Replacing Bumrah in the playing XI, Siraj played a vital role by dismissing Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for ducks to put an early dent in England's batting unit.
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Admitting that he has been working on his outswingers during practice, Siraj told BCCI.tv after the series win:
"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."
The 28-year-old pacer had garnered a reputation for getting a natural inward movement with a scrambled seam in the recent past.
Admitting earlier that he lost his flair for outswing following the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Siraj was able to get the ball to swing away from the right-handed batters in the third ODI.
Hardik Pandya was the pick among bowlers in their five-wicket win after claiming his best ODI figures of 4-24. The all-rounder used the bouncer to good effect and claimed the crucial wickets of Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone in the middle overs.
Admitting that he favors his batting display over his bowling heroics in the third ODI, Pandya said:
"Today was one of those days where whatever I tried and whatever experience I used came to effect and got the most out of the opportunity I got with both bat and ball. It was very important for me to come and stop the runs because they started pretty well. The way I batted, I think I am more proud of that because batting is always going to be close to my heart."
The 28-year-old was adjudged as the Player of the Series for his all-round exploits. He recorded 100 runs with the bat and claimed six wickets in India's first ODI series win on English soil since 2014.
"We were talking about taking it ball by ball" - Rishabh Pant on Team India's chase in Manchester
Building on a shaky platform at 72-4 while chasing 260 in the series decider, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya put on 133 runs for the fifth wicket. The pair took calculated risks and never let the required rate take command of the run chase.
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Claiming that their primary focus during the partnership was to not try anything extravagant and unnecessary, Pant said:
"The conversation with Hardik was to keep the intent going and not force anything. He was under pressure when we were batting because England were also trying to get us to play a rash shot or try something extra. So, we were talking about taking it ball by ball and not thinking about it too much."
India concluded their tour of England with twin series wins across their white-ball assignments. They are next scheduled to tour the Caribbean for three ODIs and five T20Is, beginning on July 22.