Brisbane
He picked up the ball after Shardul Thakur caught Josh Hazlewood at the fine leg and collected the ball, but skipper, Ajinkya Rahane took the ball from him, showed it to the umpire and handed the same to Siraj. Yes, it was his ball as he finished with a five-wicket haul on the 4th day of the Gabba Test on Monday.
It was heartwarming to see the Hyderabad seamer Mohammed Siraj lead Team India to the dressing room after his well-deserved maiden five-wicket haul and join the elite club of high-fivers at the Gabba. Siraj finished with figures of five for 73 on Day 4 of the 4th Test.
Siraj has become only the fifth Indian bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul her. He joined an elite list of bowlers Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan Lal and Zaheer Khan. Siraj also has the 3rd best figures for an Indian in Brisbane.
Incidentally, this was also the first time since 2008 Australia have been bowled out in both the innings of a Test in Gabba and only the third time since 1987. It's a remarkable effort from India, considering they were without any of their first-choice bowlers in the Test.
The seamer, Siraj, in the process topped the list of bowlers with most wickets for India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. Siraj has finished with 13 wickets from three matches, one more than Ravichandran Ashwin, who was not available for the 4th Test due to a back injury.
It was a commendable effort from Siraj who had stayed back in Australia despite losing his father after his arrival Down Under. Siraj got the opportunity to make his debut in the 2nd Test in Melbourne and ended up being the leader of the bowling attack in the final Test after India suffered a series of injuries.
Siraj came up with a magnificent seam bowling in the second innings, despite prodding two catches earlier in the day. He let off Steve Smith at 45 and dropped Cameron Green off his bowling.
He showed of his never-say-die attitude, as he picked up two wickets in the same over in the first session to bring India back into the contest after a solid opening stand from David Warner and Marcus Harris.
Siraj got the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne to open his tally and then picked up Matthew Wade before the batsman could open his account in the same over. Siraj got the big wicket of Steve Smith for 55. and went on to wrap up Australia's tail by picking up Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood with a bouncer.
