"I wanted to answer critics with my performance" - Mohammed Siraj reveals the reason behind his unique celebration 

Mohammed Siraj

Exciting Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj explained the reason behind his unique celebrations after picking up a wicket. He said he wanted to silence his critics and detractors through performances with the ball on the field.

He was the pick of the Indian bowlers in England's first innings as he ended up with figures 30-7-94-4. Ishant Sharma(3/69) and Mohammed Shami(2/95) supported him.

Talking in the press conference at the end of day 3, Siraj spoke about the thinking process behind the short ball strategy he employed to set up Jonny Bairstow's dismissal in 79th over. He said:

"There was not much help from the wicket, so we planned to use the bouncer strategy for the next eight overs, as the new ball was available after that. The plan was to bowl short balls for that small period and maybe scalp a wicket or two before getting back to traditional lines with the new ball."

Siraj then continued by explaining the reason for his unique celebration.

"The celebration style is for my haters and detractors. They usually have a lot of negative things to say about me, that I cannot do this thing or that thing. So I thought of answering them with my performances with ball, that is the reason for the unique celebration," said Siraj

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My simple game plan was to keep hitting one spot consistently without experimenting much: Siraj

Mohammed Siraj also revealed that his primary game plan is to bowl consistent lines and lengths. As for India's approach on the fourth day, Siraj stated that the pitch had eased out a little for the batsman, so the team would look to score as many runs as possible. He said:

Since my days of playing in the Ranji Trophy, I have always looked to bowl consistent lengths. Even today, I followed the same. My simple game plan was to keep hitting one spot consistently without experimenting much. As we know fast bowlers play an important role in England. So as a whole unit our plan was to bowl consistently at one length. The wicket has improved very much for batting. We will try to put as many runs on the board as possible and then see what happens from there.