Mohammed Siraj says he wanted to compensate for what he missed in the first Test against South Africa and executed his plans well on Day 1 in Cape Town to register his career-best figures in the format – 6/15.
Siraj was at his lethal best in the first session of the day’s play and claimed a six-fer to bundle out Proteas for just 55.
Siraj had an underwhelming outing in Centurion with the bowling figures of 2/91 but the Hyderabad pacer made sure he didn’t commit the same mistakes.
Did he think he would come out to bowl twice in a day?
“Did you think so?” he chuckled with a counter-question.
But he was visibly happy after having one of his best days in his 23-Test career.
“You want the New Year to go well,” the affable Hyderabadi said with satisfaction written all over his face.
“I realised what I missed in the last game and wanted to compensate and I executed my plans accordingly. I wanted to hit one area consistently and I did that and got reward for it. Wicket looks quite similar to Centurion,” Siraj said at the end of the day’s play.
The premier pacer talked about what he did differently in Cape Town which was missing in the first Test.
“We (him and Jasprit Bumrah) bowled in partnerships and bowled many maidens unlike last Test match. Bowling so many maidens did create pressure.”
When one gets a track as spicy as Newlands, a fast bowler’s excited mind can get cluttered and that’s what one needs to control, feels Siraj.
