IND vs SA 2022: "This is the intent and the variation that you need at death" - Rajkumar Sharma on India's Mohammed Siraj

Former Delhi cricketer and Virat Kohli's childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, has praised Mohammed Siraj for his display in India's second ODI against South Africa.

Sharma believes Team India's bowlers, led by Siraj, bowled well at the death to restrict South Africa to 278/7 in Ranchi on Sunday (October 9). The hosts went on to chase down the target with seven wickets to spare and leveled the three-match series 1-1.

Siraj continued to impress, picking up figures of 3/38 from his 10 overs. He has now bagged 16 wickets from 11 ODIs so far this year. Sharma particularly mentioned the way Siraj nailed his yorkers at the death, as it didn't allow a well-set David Miller to cut loose and take the Proteas beyond 300.

Speaking to India News, the former Ranji Trophy cricketer explained the importance of the hosts bowling well at the death and said:

"We have spoken so much of late about how death bowling has been an issue for us. But the way Siraj bowled was brilliant. This is the intent and the variation that you need at death. You need to nail your Yorkers and Siraj did that really well."

Sharma added:

"The South African middle-order with Miller and others are capable of taking the game away from the opposition and so I feel we did really well to control them at the death."

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Death bowling was where India set up the game nicely: Reetinder Sodhi

Former cricketer Reetinder Sodhi also agreed that not giving South Africa the desired finish to their batting innings shifted the momentum towards India. He feels the hosts deserve full credit for keeping the dangerous South African lower middle order at bay and stated on the same panel:

"Our death bowling was really good and credit goes to Mohammed Siraj. That was actually where we set up the game nicely as we restricted them to a chasable score. So well done to the bowlers."

The Men in Blue will have the momentum with them going into the series decider in Delhi on Tuesday (October 11).

It's worth noting that they have already qualified for next year's World Cup as they are the hosts. However, South Africa desperately need to win to keep their hopes of direct qualification alive.