It has been a tough few months for Indian cricket team fast bowler Mohammed Siraj. The pacer has struggled to produce a good show with the ball and with four wickets in the series against Bangladesh and two wickets in the first Test match against New Zealand, he has been facing a lot of criticism. Ahead of the second Test in Pune, questions have also been asked off the team management with many suggesting that Akash Deep should replace the struggling Siraj in the playing XI.
India assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate admitted that Siraj is going through a “wicket-drought” but defended the pacer.
“Siraj bowled beautifully in the second innings. That hour of Test match cricket on the last morning was really high quality,” he told the media ahead of India’s practice session in Pune.
“It maybe wasn’t a nicking wicket, which is obviously his big strength, particularly to left-handers when he moves the ball across. There’s nothing there to say like he’s not bowling well or his rhythm is not good.”
“Maybe he’s just going through a little bit of a wicket drought. But no concerns again,” he added.
Ten Doeschate said that middle-order batters KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan are locked in a selection battle for the second Test against New Zealand here even though head coach Gautam Gambhir is keen to give the former, a long rope.
With India looking to bounce back from the eight-wicket thrashing at Bengaluru in the opening Test, focus will be on the team combination with Washington Sundar being added to the squad. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are both aiming to shake off injury concerns for the match starting Thursday.
“Yeah, there’s no point in sugarcoating it, there’s a fight for a spot,” ten Doeschate told the media when asked if Rahul and Sarfaraz were battling for a place in the team, here at the MCA Stadium ahead of India’s training session.
“Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn’t play at (and) miss at one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs.
“There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
