SA vs IND 2024: “Test cricket is very important for my career”, says Mohammed Siraj after splendid spell

India’s gun fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has said that Test cricket is very important for his career. Siraj bagged his best bowling figures in the red-ball version, taking 6-15 in the nine overs he bowled in the first innings against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town on Wednesday. Ergo, South Africa were skittled out for a paltry score of 55 runs, their lowest in Test cricket against India.

Siraj accounted for Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, and Marco Jansen. The Hyderabad pacer bowled all his nine overs on the trot in a single spell.

Siraj consistently bowled in the good length areas and reaped the rewards for his accurate length.

Mohammed Siraj said in a video released by the BCCI, “Test cricket is very important for my career. I want to play as many games as I can in this format. You need to be consistent throughout long spells. You get to tackle challenges, which is something I enjoy.”

Siraj added he planned to bowl in consistent areas and be patient in his approach.

Siraj said, “When I was bowling in the beginning, I felt like my end favored the release. Whenever I was putting in an effort, it was becoming manageable for the batters. So I decided to just release the ball. And as we saw, the results were more effective as well.”

He further added, “Once our innings ended in the last match, we’d given away too many runs. I realised, I’d tried a lot. So far in my Test cricket career, it was the first time that I’d got a maiden in the 24th over. I haven’t seen my videos, but I’d realised what I’d done wrong. It dawned on me pretty quickly. I knew what I had to do in the next game.”

Comparing his bowling performance with his final show in the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka in 2023, “The only similarity between the two spells is six wickets in both games. I’d given some 23 runs then, here I’ve given only 15.”

India needs another 53 runs to win the second Test match as they are 26-0 in the run-chase of 79 runs.