'The way the wicket is behaving, Ashwin will...' - Mohammed Siraj launches launches fiery warning to West Indies ahead of Day 5 in Trinidad

Star India pacer Mohammed Siraj claimed a five-wicket haul on the fourth day of the ongoing second Test against West Indies. He achieved this feat on an almost-flat wicket of the Port of Spain in Trinidad. Apart from this, Siraj also came up with a confident statement, showing belief in his senior teammate and veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Notably, Ashwin had scalped both wickets as West Indies were chasing 365 runs on Day 4. The 36-year-old trapped skipper Kraig Brathwaite and debutant Kirk McKenzie. West Indies ended Day 4 for 76 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.

Coming back to Siraj’s remarks, he backed Ashwin to trouble the hosts on the final day of the Test match. "The way the wicket is behaving, Ashwin, I feel, will run through the West Indies batting... the ball is turning," said Siraj after the stumps on the penultimate day at the Port of Spain in Trinidad.

Ishan is able to fill in for Pant's loss to a certain extent - Mohammed Siraj

Furthermore, the pace spearhead also praised Ishan Kishan for his batting heroics in the second innings of India. Siraj also felt that the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter is filling Rishabh Pant’s shoes in his absence to a good extent, if not completely. “Yes, Ishan is an aggressive batter. Rishabh Pant is not there, so as a wicketkeeper, he (Ishan) is able to fill in for Pant's loss to a certain extent, if not completely,” said Siraj.

"He has the ability to hit the ball long and hard. He has the ability to hit all around the ground. We had enough runs on the board (first innings lead), so our plan was to score as many (runs in the second innings) in a short period, and then (after declaration), we would be able to get more overs to bowl out the West Indies,” the Indian pacer added.

Talking about his five-wicket haul in the first innings of West Indies, the Hyderabad seemer rated his performance quite high and also explained the behaviour of the wicket. "I would rate my performance very high because it's not easy to take five wickets on a flat wicket. I had set a plan, especially when the ball started reverse swinging, I executed my line and length perfectly,” he said.