On Thursday, Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj revealed that the team had initially planned to bowl only bouncers to Travis Head, regardless of the outcome, following his counterattacking hundred on the opening day of the World Test Championship final. However, Head’s impressive 163 off 174 balls on the second day at the Oval put Australia in a commanding position.
The Indian team’s decision to not use the short ball against Head on day one was questioned, prompting them to change their strategy the following day. Eventually, Siraj was able to dismiss Head with a well-executed short ball on the leg side.
“There was sticky bounce yesterday morning and seam movement. Thereafter, there was not enough swing from the six metre length and batters were having it easy. Head batted extraordinarily as well. We could have bowled with better lines,” said Siraj.
“After the Australian batter completed his hundred in the first over of the day, I threw the ball back to Steve Smith with a smile on my face. When asked about it, I simply replied that I was just enjoying the moment. It’s important to savor these moments, especially since it’s going to be a long day ahead,” said Siraj.
Reflecting on the game, Siraj acknowledged that luck played a role in their success on day two, particularly with the short ball.
“We decided to bowl bouncer only to Head and if he get hit from there then so be it. We stuck to it and got success. We built pressure did not give too many runs that also helped. We used bouncers yesterday as well but the chances went in the gap.
“There were four-five chances off my bowling only. If we did not bowl well, Australia would have crossed 500,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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