India speedster Mohammed Siraj recorded only the fourth five-wicket-haul of his red-ball career during the third day of the Edgbaston Test against England. The 31-year-old finished the innings with figures of 6/70 as the Men in Blue bundled out the hosts for 407, taking a lead of 180 runs ahead of their second innings. The visitors would wrap up the day on 64/1 with KL Rahul unbeaten on 28 and Karun Nair batting on 7. They may have lost the big wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 22, but they still have a good chance of posting a big target for the Three Lions ahead of the final day of the match.
Following the conclusion of the day, Siraj labelled his spell as 'unbelievable' and remarked that he had only managed to get 4-wicket-hauls on English soil before so getting a 6-fer was very special for him.
"It's unbelievable because I was waiting for a long time. I have been bowling well but not getting wickets. I have only got four-wicket hauls here, so getting six here is very special," Siraj said in a chat with JioHotstar.
Siraj first dismissed Zak Crawley on Day 2 before getting the big wickets of Joe Root and Ben Stokes on consecutive deliveries during the first session of the third day. He then also got rid of England's tail, sending the likes of Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir back to the dugout.
The pacer remarked that he bowled with discipline as the wicket was slow and added that his main goal throughout the spell was to not leak too many runs.
"The wicket was very slow but when you are given a responsibility to lead the attack, my aim was to not try too much and just bowl in the right areas and bowl with discipline. My mindset was to keep it tight and not give away runs," Siraj stated.
Siraj feels that India are way ahead of England in the match
Siraj also gave quite a confident statement at the end, claiming that India are quite ahead in the match. However, he also believes that it is crucial for them to put up a big total on the board as England's ultra-aggressive batting approach can lead them to chase down big targets as well. Ben Stokes & Co. recently gave an example of this by chasing down the target of 371 in the first Test at Headingley on the final day.
"We are quite ahead right now but the plan is to get as many runs on the board because we know their attacking mindset. Day by day, the pitch is slowing down more. If you keep bowling in one area... If you start leaking runs, it's hard to stop that. We saw that with Smith and Brook. Patience is very important here," Siraj said.
With India leading by a massive margin of 244, England bowlers will be looking to somehow make a comeback and restrict the Men in Blue to a low total in their second innings so that they can get an easy target to chase ahead of the fifth day of the match.