Team India had a tremendous outing with the ball on Day 2 of the ongoing second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram, with Mohammed Siraj destroying the top order of the home team. Siraj provided the visitors with a perfect start when he dismissed opener Najmul Hossain Shanto on the very firꦯst ball of the Bangladesh innings.
However, it was his battle with top-order batter Litton Das that gained the maximum eyeballs. Siraj and Das were spotted exchanging words soon after the latter played a defensive stroke. The incident occurred on the first ball of the 13th over of Bangladesh’s first innings when the Indian pacer said something to Das.
Afterwards, the right-handed batter was seen walking towards Siraj while gesturing that he didn’t listen to what the pacer was saying. Soon the on-field umpire intervened and stopped both players from going further.
Siraj, however, had the last laugh as, on the very next delivery, he dismissed Das. The right-arm pacer went for a length ball that nipped back in with the angle and kept low. Das stood in his crease but couldn’t bring his bat down in time as the ball hit the cue end of the bat and then deflected onto the stumps. This was followed by Siraj’s finger-on-the-lips celebration.
After the end of the day’s play, Siraj was quizzed regarding what exactly happened between him and Das. The 28-year-old observed that it was nothing but a friendly banter.
“No, nothing. I said that this is not T20 cricket, it is Test cricket. Play sensible cricket,” said Siraj in the press conference.
Siraj also revealed his success mantra at this track, mentioning that he targeted the stumps to bring the LBW and 𒉰bowled modes of dismissals into play.
“My approach was to bowl consistent stuff. This the kind of wicket where if you try too much, then you leak runs. So the plan was to bowl consistently at one area at stumps… I will get success. If you bowl the stump line, it would be better because from there, the ball is staying low, there is turn also. For fast bowlers also… stump line, there are chances of getting LBW,” added Siraj.
