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Team India pacer Mohammed Siraj endured an off day with the ball on Wednesday (October 11) during the 2023 World Cup clash against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Siraj came into the World Cup in red-hot form as he picked up a sensational six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final last month in Colombo. He was also the number one ranked bowler in the ICC rankings, and everyone expected him to play a crucial role in India's campaign at the World Cup.
The Hyderabad-born pacer began the World Cup on a decent note with a spell of 6.3-1-26-1 against Australia on Sunday. However, he struggled for rhythm in today's match against Afghanistan. He went on to concede 76 runs in just nine overs without taking a wicket.
Fans took note of Mohammed Siraj's expensive spell against Afghanistan and expressed mixed reactions to it on X (formerly Twitter). Here are some of the best reactions:
Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya carried the pace department well as Mohammed Siraj had an off-day
After opting to bat first in the contest, Afghanistan managed to reach a decent total of 272/8 in 50 overs. Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62) starred for them in the batting department and hit fluent half-centuries.
However, the rest of the batters failed to take advantage of good batting conditions. Indian bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah picked up four wickets, while Hardik Pandya scalped two wickets.
Reflecting on his knock at mid-innings break, Azmatullah Omarzai said:
"First of all I want to thank the almighty. I'm really happy, I scored my first fifty in India and hope I can carry my form in the future games," Omarzai said at the mid-innings break."
He added:
"We lost early wickets, we were trying to build partnerships and rotate the strikes, waited for the loose balls and enjoyed batting with Shahidi. We tried to reach 300, but we lost wickets in a heap, we still have a good total, have quality spinners and try to defend it."
