India vs New Zealand: Mohammad Siraj looks more assured than before, growing in confidence: Zaheer Khan
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Mohammad Siraj looks more assured than before, growing in confidence: Zaheer Khan

India vs New Zealand: Former Indian left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan heaped praises on young pacer Mohammad Siraj for his brilliant bowling against New Zealand. Khan reckons that Siraj’s confidence in his bowling is growing with each passing day and the pacer looks more assured than he was before.

India gave chance to Mohammad Siraj in the second match in the absence of senior pacers like Jasprit BUmrah and Mohammad Shami. Siraj started off brilliantly by scalping three initial wickets against New Zealand in the first innings in Mumbai.

Siraj begin the demolition of the kiwi lineup with the new ball in Mumbai and pushed the opposition on complete backfoot with his fierce spell of (3/19) in the first innings.

Zaheer Khan during the post-match show at Cricbuzz said that Siraj is beaming with confidence as he is getting to understand his own bowling.

“He [Siraj] is one of those bowlers who is growing in confidence; he has started to look more assured than before,” Zaheer told Cricbuzz. “When you just start playing international cricket or Test cricket, you need a little bit of time to realise what your strengths are, how do you simplify things.”

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“Whenever I look at Siraj now, I feel he has simplified things. He tries to attack the stumps, which is his strength, and that’s where you see his deliveries either jagging back in or shaping away from the batter. So, it seems he is understanding well what works for him. He is moulding things that way, and he is reaping the rewards,” he added.

The former pacer further highlighted the importance of having a bowler of Siraj’s calibre in the team. 

“Having him in the team will definitely ease things out, because when you have to rest your main bowler during the game – if say Jasprit Bumrah is playing, he becomes the main bowler, so if you have to use Bumrah sparingly or tactically, someone like a Siraj becomes a great help for the team.”

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