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India pacer Mohammed Siraj is known for wearing his heart on the sleeve. Siraj does not shy away from sledging a batter, he feeds off it. During the ending stages of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, Root had said that sometimes Siraj fakes his anger and considers him a “nice lad”. Months after, Siraj has responded to Root’s comment. The pacer said that he made the decision to not talk to Root on the field as the England batter often had a smile on his face.
“No, no I do get angry and it does not fade off quickly (laughs). Only after I get a wicket, my anger vanishes. As for Joe Root, he is a world class batsman. When he is facing me, he never looks at me with any kind of anger. He keeps smiling at me. So whenever I see him, automatically a smile comes to my face. He is the first person seeing whom I become calm and smile,” Siraj told Indian Express.
“So during the England tour I decided I am not going to look at him or talk to him. Even if he was at the non-striker’s end and I was fielding at mid-off, he would come to talk to me but I would not talk to him. I would just walk away somewhere else (laughs).”
In the final Test, Root scored a century in the run chase. However, Siraj turned out to be the hero for the visitors, taking a fifer, including a jaw-dropping spell on the morning of Day 5 at Kennington Oval, London.
When Root lauded Siraj
Root had lauded Siraj for his relentless approach to get wickets. He enjoys playing against the Indian pacer and wants youngsters to learn from him.
"He is someone that you want on your team. He is that kind of character. He gives everything for India, and it is credit to him for that, the way he approaches cricket. He has got this fake anger about him sometimes, which I can see straight through," Root had said in a press conference.
"You can tell he is actually a really nice lad. But he tries incredibly hard. He is a very skilful player.
"There is a reason why he's got the wickets he has, because one, his work ethic and two, his skill level. I enjoy playing against him. He always has a big smile on his face, and he will give everything for his team. I guess you could not want anything more of that as a fan watching, and a great example to any young player starting out," he concluded.
Siraj continues good form
Siraj continued his good form in red-ball cricket. In the first Test of the series against West Indies, he picked up seven wickets, including a four-fer in the first innings. He will be in action again when India go up against Roston Chase-led side in the second Test, starting on October 10 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. Meanwhile, he has made a comeback to the ODI side. He will play in the three-ODI series against Australia later this month.
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