‘Every wicket felt like five’: Siraj reflects on Player of the Series performance vs West Indies

India pacer Mohammed Siraj said every wicket felt like a five-wicket haul after being named Impact Player of the Series in the 2-0 Test win over West Indies. Siraj took 10 wickets across two Tests as India marked their first series win under Shubman Gill.

New Delhi: After the conclusion of the two-Test series against the West Indies, India pacer Mohammed Siraj was adjudged ‘Impact Player of the Series’ and stated that every wicket that he took felt like a fifer.

After crushing the West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in the series opener, India defeated the visitors by seven wickets in the second game to whitewash series 2-0. Siraj took seven wickets in the opener, followed by three in the final Test.

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“To be honest, this series went very well. When we played in Ahmedabad, there was some help for the fast bowlers. In New Delhi, we had to bowl a lot of overs. Every wicket I took felt like five wickets. As a fast bowler, when you get rewarded after putting in the efforts, you gain a lot of confidence, and you also feel happy after winning the Impact Player award in the dressing room,” Siraj said in a video.

Siraj further said Test cricket is his favourite format of the game, and he feels proud after every tiny achievement. “I feel very proud as a person after any achievement. I will try to continue with such performances because Test cricket is my favourite format.

“There are so many challenges in it, you have to be on the field the whole day and you have to do it physically and mentally. It’s very different, but it also makes me feel proud,” he added.

In a video shared by BCCI.tv, India wicketkeeper-batter N. Jagadeesan presented Siraj his medal in the dressing room. He called termed the fast bowler’s performance in the series impeccable.

“There have been a lot of performances in this series, great performances, but now it’s just about one guy who has been impeccable throughout this series,” Jagadeesan said.

“The one who has a lot of vigour, courage and aggression every time the ball was thrown to him. Every time he came on, he had the same attitude, and more importantly, he was probably the one when there was good effort on the field, he was the first one to go and pat everyone on the back and encourage them,” he added.

The win in the second Test was India’s tenth straight win against the West Indies and overall 122th Test win, going past South Africa to No. 3. The victory marks India’s first Test series win under Shubman Gill’s captaincy, following the drawn 2-2 result in England earlier this year.