“Felt like, I will not get out, it was heartbreaking” - Mohammed Siraj opens up on Lord’s Test defeat

Indian tailender Mohammed Siraj has recalled the heartbreaking moment from the Lord’s Test when he got out after middling the ball against the English spinner Shoaib Bashir as India suffered a narrow 22-run defeat to trail the series by 1-2.

Though Siraj defended Bashir perfectly well, the ball unfortunately rolled onto the stumps after bouncing onto the surface and dislodged the bails as he was the last wicket to fall on the fifth and final day of the Lord’s Test.

Speaking at the press conference ahead of the start of the Manchester Test, Siraj stated that he felt he would not get out, given the way he was batting in the middle. Notably, Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja stitched a 23-run stand for the 10th wicket.

"Obviously, I was very sad. In that kind of match, to get out after middling, like I had a partnership with Jaddu bhai, I felt like I won’t get out. The way I was batting, I had that confidence that I can’t get out here. Whatever happens, it will be my own mistake. But unfortunately, even after middling, I got out. It was very heartbreaking. Because if we had won that match, the result would’ve been totally different," said Siraj at the pre-match press conference.

Siraj further asserted that he is an emotional person and the Lord’s Test defeat stood with him for a long time. He went on to state that in overseas Tests, runs from tailenders are very important and added that they are working hard on improving their batting.

"It stayed for a long time. Because the match was like that. In 2021 too, I took the last wicket. Then again, to be in that situation, I’m a very emotional person. Because in such a situation when I got out, I mean, if we had won, the series would be 2-1,” he added.

"But at that time, Jaddu bhai fought so well, even Jassi bhai played 54 balls. Such a fight but in the end, it was a loss. After so much hard work, I thought, no, the series isn’t over yet, it’s still 2-1. That gave me a boost that I’ll do even better and focus on my batting. Because when we go overseas, runs from tailenders are very important. Even when we went to Australia last two times, we always thought that as much as possible, we should make runs from the bottom. So since then we are working hard on our batting," Siraj stated.

India will take on England in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, starting on Wednesday, July 23.

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