India entered the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 without Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested due to workload management concerns. In Bumrah’s absence, Mohammed Siraj leads the pace attack, with Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep at the helm. Siraj was immensely excellent with the ball in the first innings, taking four wickets and ensuring that the visiting team did not miss Bumrah at all.
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra was also impressed by Siraj’s consistency in bowling long stints and giving his all with the ball. Notably, Siraj’s bowling average maintains 35.00 when Bumrah is on the pitch; however, the data completely shift when his senior bowling partner is not present, as the Hyderabad-born takes wickets at 25.59. Chopra discovers that Siraj may go for a few runs, but he keeps to his strategy of bowling longer periods.
“He ups his game when Bumrah isn’t present. The start was not terrific.
They were being hit. When we were playing, it appeared to be a green top with challenging batting, but when they arrived, it appeared to be a road. They were hitting seven or eight runs per over. “That was dangerous,” Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.
“He may not be bowling well, being hit for runs, wandering down the leg at times, or yielding at a higher economy rate. These things may be a difficulty for Siraj, which can happen to anyone, but have you ever seen him bowl at 70%? Has Siraj ever failed to give his all when bowling?” the cricketer-turned-commentator went on to say.
Notably, Mohammed Siraj’s four-for was a significant personal achievement for the bowler, who also became the series’ leading wicket-taker with 18 wickets in just eight innings. His scorching spell helped India dismiss England for 247 after the hosts had a white-ball-like start to their innings. England took a slender 23-run lead, but it gave India a wonderful opportunity to score heavily in their second innings and rely on Siraj’s brilliance once more to finish the game in style. Day 3 will start with India restarting at 75 for 2.
India
