Last Updated: September 17, 2023, 17:34 IST
Mohammed Siraj picked up 6 wickets against Sri Lnka in the Asia Cup 2023 final (AP)
Mohammed Siraj broke mulriple records as he picked up 6 wickets in the Asia Cup final by just bowling ‘line and length’.
Mohammed Siraj claimed six wickets including four in one over, as India skittled out Sri Lanka for a paltry 50 in the Asia Cup final at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
Sri Lanka were bowled out in 15.2 overs after they elected to bat first in Colombo, but Siraj wreaked havoc with figures of 6/21.
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“Last match against Sri Lanka I took first 4 wickets but unfortunately could not get 5 then. I realised then after that, “jo nasseb mein hoga, wohi milega” – If it is in my destiny, I will get it,” Siraj told the broadcasters at the mid-innings break.
“I focused on line and length only and let ball do the rest. To be honest, in white ball cricket the ball initially swings and it did swing a lot today, there aws a good amount of swing, and tried to let the batter play the drive and get wickets with the outwinger, which I generally do not get, but it happened for me today,” he added.
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Siraj, in fact, registered the best figures in an ODI against Sri Lanka, surpassing Waqar Younis’ 6/26 in Sharjah in 1990.
“It was like a dream, wicket had a lot of juice and if you bowl at the one particular length, you can get wickets and that happened,” Siraj said.
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Siraj equalled the feats of Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas (against Bangladesh in 2003), Pakistan’s Mohammad Sami (against New Zealand in 2003) and England’s Adil Rashid (against West Indies in 2019) to take four wickets in an over of men’s ODI since 2002, thus becoming the first from India to do so.
Siraj took just 16 balls to complete his five-wicket haul, which is the joint-quickest to reach the mark alongside Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas and USA’s Ali Khan.
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Siraj also has the record now for most wickets in the first 10 overs for India in an ODI since 2002.
29-year-old Siraj also broke the record for the best bowling figures by a pace bowler in the Asia Cup, going past Pakistan’s Aaqib Javed, who picked 5/19 against India at Sharjah in 1995.
(With inputs from Agencies)
