The Indian cricket fans might have found it critical when skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah would be missing out on the decider against England in Manchester due to a niggle in the back. However, the latter’s replacement – Mohammed Siraj – didn’t disappoint anyone either. The Hyderabad pacer justified his selection by bowling a double-wicket maiden to provide a flying start to the visitors in a must-win game.
Siraj came into the attack after Shami went for runs in the first over. Jason Roy smashed three boundaries to begin the England innings and now Jonny Bairstow had the strike. After scoring nothing off the first two deliveries, the English batter looked to play a length ball towards the leg-side. However, he found a leading edge that ballooned towards the mid-off.
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Bairstow, who has been in form of his life, was gone for a three-ball duck.
A couple of deliveries later, Siraj struck again and this time, he had the better of star English batter Joe Root. The right-arm quick bowled a stunning delivery that was angling in and Root had no other option than to play it. The ball swung away late, took an outside edge of Root’s bat, and landed in Rohit’s hands at the slips.
Root also went back after securing a duck and Siraj had claimed a double-wicket maiden over.
Siraj’s over gave a terrific start to India after opting to bowl first. It was the third toss in a row won by visiting captain Rohit Sharma. Speaking at the toss, the Indian skipper informed about the change made to the playing XI; Jasprit Bumrah missed out due to a niggle while Mohammed Siraj has come in.
“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. Bumrah has a niggle and we don’t want to risk him, so Siraj comes in,” said Rohit at the toss.
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