Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has showered praise on Mohammed Siraj for giving his all amid the fifth Test match against England at Kennington Oval, London. Siraj is known to give his absolute best on the field and once again gave every ounce of his energy on the field.

The fast bowler returned with figures of 2-95 in 26 overs he bowled against England in the second innings. Siraj had bagged 4-86 in the first innings and had helped the visitors in bouncing back into the contest. 

Ashwin hailed Siraj for including inswinger in his rich repertoire. The 31-year-old pacer from Hyderabad has thus far bowled 181.2 overs and he is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 20 scalps.

“It was a lion-hearted effort from Siraj. He was absolutely brilliant. From the last England series to now, he has consistently looked to run the ball back to the pad. When he played that Gabba Test in 2020/21, the outswinger was his most potent weapon. In between, he had lost it somewhere but has managed to bring it back. He was become double effective. He’s almost bowled 200 overs (181.2) and still running in hard, that is one mighty effort,” Ravichandran Ashwin said on ‘Ash ki Baat’. 

Ashwin highlighted that Siraj goes under the radar when he is playing with Jasprit Bumrah but the former takes the onus on his shoulders in latter’s absence.

“Whenever Bumrah is not there, actually, Siraj is getting the credit he should get. When Bumrah is playing, sometimes we forget Siraj, his role and contribution. He does not get enough credit as he should for his complete effort and the way he runs in the whole day. He lives up every time Bumrah is not playing,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Siraj made a blunder when he stepped on the boundary rope after taking Harry Brook’s catch at deep fine leg. Brook was only on 19 at that stage and went on to make 111 runs. Ashwin said India would have won the game by tea if Siraj had not made that mistake.

“Prasidh, to be honest, the two wickets he got and made it 3/110, people would have started talking about his expensive bowling spells if not for those wickets. But when he is getting it right, he is almost unplayable. If Siraj would have taken that catch, this game would have been done by Tea. India would have won hands down,” he said. 

England need 35 runs to win the fifth Test match with four wickets in hand.