"We feel the absence of Bumrah and Shami less when Mohammed Siraj is there" - Aakash Chopra lauds the seamer's spell

Aakash Chopra has highlighted that Mohammed Siraj's presence in India's bowling attack does not make one feel the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Siraj took three wickets in his first three overs in New Zealand's first innings of the ongoing Mumbai Test. The Indian spinners then ran through the Black Caps batting lineup as they were bowled out for a lowly 62 runs.

While lauding Mohammed Siraj's bowling performance during a discussion on Star Sports, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the speedster had made up for the absence of Bumrah and Shami. He elaborated:

"He did not allow us to miss anyone. We didn't talk about Ishant being injured, we didn't talk about Bumrah and Shami not playing, about whom we might have talked about in the last match. We feel the absence of Bumrah and Shami less when Mohammed Siraj is there."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Mohammed Siraj puts in his utmost effort on the field of play. Chopra observed:

"Effort is the highlight which you can see from far. Whenever he is on the ground, it seems that he will give everything that he has got - you tell to go through the wall, I will go through the wall for you. That's the feeling you get."

Siraj tends to make things happen with his energetic approach. The speedster has given Team India vital breakthroughs in his short Test career to date.

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"The ball with which Mohammed Siraj dismissed Ross Taylor was almost unplayable" - Aakash Chopra

Ross Taylor was castled by a peach from Mohammed Siraj [P/C: BCCI]

Aakash Chopra cited the example of Ross Taylor's dismissal to highlight that apart from the effort that he puts in, Mohammed Siraj is a highly skilled bowler. He explained:

"But it's not just that. You can come running hard and bowl with passion but you need skill to take wickets at this level and he has that skill. The ball with which he dismissed Ross Taylor was almost unplayable, moved little, as much as it was required to move."

The 44-year-old added that Mohammed Siraj also got rid of Tom Latham with a well-planned and perfectly executed bouncer trap. Chopra said:

"He bowled two consecutive bouncers to Tom Latham and told him to forget Kanpur, that this is Wankhede, he had not played there but is playing here. The fielder was also kept in the deep for this thing only."

Latham batted more than 71 overs across the two innings in Kanpur but was hardly tested with short-pitched deliveries. However, Siraj targeted him with bouncers and had him caught by Shreyas Iyer at deep square leg while playing an ungainly hook shot.