Senior players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma feel Mohammed Siraj’s brilliant form in 50-over cricket can also be helpful for the Indian team heading into the World Cup later this year.
In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who has been on the sidelines due to a lower back stress fracture, Siraj has emerged as India’s most successful bowler in ODIs in the past year.
“(Mohammed) Shami has always been there for us but the way Siraj has come in and done with the new ball has been having been outstanding,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation after India’s 317-run win over Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI here.
“He has taken the maximum number of wickets in the powerplay, which was an issue for us early. He is always making the batters think, which is a great sign for us going into the World Cup.”
Siraj, who rocked the Sri Lankan top order, missed out on a fifer and returned with impressive figures of 4/32.
“Good to see how he (Siraj) was bowling and he deserved all those slips. He is a rare talent, the way he has come up over the last few years is good to see,” skipper Rohit said.
“He has come from strength to strength and that’s really good for Indian cricket.
“We tried all sorts of things (to get his fifer) but it didn’t happen, unfortunately. But the four wickets are all his and the fifers will come. He has a few tricks up his sleeves which he is working on and it’s there to see.”
India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of Sri Lanka in the ODI series.
“It was a great series for us. Lots of positives. We bowled well, got wickets when we needed and the batters throughout the series piling on the runs was good to watch.”
India are scheduled to play three ODIs and as many T20Is as New Zealand, starting Wednesday.
“We’ll get to the drawing board quickly (for the next series) and see how the pitch is, then decide how the combinations will be.
“They (NZ) are coming off a series win in Pakistan, so it won’t be an easy task at all,” Rohit added
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