India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of New Zealand's Ross Taylor during the Day 2 of the 2nd Test match with New Zealand in Mumbai
India pacer Mohammed Siraj termed the delivery that got Ross Taylor out a "dream" for any bowler because of its perfect execution. Siraj played a key role in New Zealand getting bowled out for 62 in their first innings as he got three top-order wickets in quick succession in his opening spell on the second day of the second Test.
Asked about the delivery to Taylor, Siraj said, "The plan was that we had set the field for an inswing delivery and was aim to hit the pads but the way I was building my rhythm, I thought why not bowl an outswing. It was a dream delivery for any fast bowler."
Siraj had split his webbing during the first T20 International against New Zealand in Jaipur and was out of action since then. He was overlooked with senior pacer Ishant Sharma getting a chance in the opening Test in Kanpur.
"When I resumed training after getting injured, I did a lot of single wicket bowling with an aim to get as much swing as possible. That was my focus. As and when I would get chance in the Test match, I had to consistently hit one area and that's what helps me in building my rhythm," the Hyderabad fast bowler, who bowled a 147 kmph plus bouncer to dismiss Tom Latham, said.
The basic endeavour for him has always been to let batters play as many deliveries as possible and that's why bowl a stump line and not outside the off-stump.
"I wanted to pitch it on stumps and hit one area consistently as it creates problems for batters. The batters start leaving deliveries if you start bowling outside the off-stump," he said.
He knew that on this track, spinners will bowl long spells and he had decided that whatever be the length of his spell, he would go full tilt, as he did during those four overs.
"I knew I will get 3-4 overs of spell and wanted to bowl with full intensity," he concluded.
