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India vs Australia | Mohammad Siraj reveals why did he cry during the national anthem time at Sydney

India vs Australia | Mohammad Siraj reveals why did he cry during the national anthem time at Sydney. Siraj took the wicket of David Warner to hand India an early edge on Day 1.

Mohammad Siraj took the wicket of David Warner to hand India an early edge on Day 1

Sydney, January 7: Mohammed Siraj hogged all the limelight on Thursday (January 7) when the images of him crying while India's national anthem being played in the Sydney Cricket Ground ahead of the first day's play against Australia went viral. After the day's play Siraj revealed the reason behind that impromptu burst of emotion.

"I remembered my dad during the national anthem, my dad always wanted me to play Test cricket. If he was there today, he would have seen me playing," said Siraj during the virtual press conference.

Siraj had lost his father before the Australia tour, but the pacer decided to stay back to fulfill his father's dream of seeing him play Test cricket for the country. Siraj had struck in the fourth over to hand India an early breakthrough as opener David Warner -- returning after missing two Tests due to groin injury -- walked back after scoring just five runs.

On a day when the Indian bowlers had to toil hard at the Sydney Cricket Ground, pacer Mohammad Siraj said that team had planned on bowling short balls to Will Pucovski looking at the batsman's history of being troubled by the short-pitched delivery.

Debutant Pucovski rode his luck and Marnus Labuschagne showed resolve as the duo hit half-centuries to put Australia in a dominating position in a rain-curtailed opening day of the Pink Test on Thursday (January 7).

At stumps, Australia's score read 166/2 in 55 overs with Labuschagne and Smith unbeaten on 67 and 31 respectively. "When we played a practice game against Australia A, we bowled short balls to Pucovski then also, we were seeing that Pucovski was not keen on leaving the ball, he was going after it, so we had a plan of bowling short balls to him, but our main focus was bowling good line and length to him," said Siraj while during the virtual press conference.

Siraj also credited South Africa pacer, Dale Steyn, for helping him in developing a good outswinger. "During the lockdown, I worked on improving my outswinger, I spoke to Dale Steyn about it during IPL 2020, he helped me and now I have started bowling outswingers. Test cricket is all about patience. Bowlers' patience is really tested in Test cricket, we have to adapt and we have to bowl in the right areas," said Siraj.

Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant (/topic/rishabh-pant) dropped two chances, but Siraj said the bowlers cannot be upset about that as they need to focus on bowling the next delivery.

"It (catches being dropped) is a part of the game, bowlers do get upset. But these things happen and one can only get focused on the next ball. The wicket is good, we were just planning on creating pressure, it's an easy wicket, our bouncers were also not that effective," he added.

Story first published: Thursday, January 7, 2021, 15:00 [IST]
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