Sunrisers Hyderabad fast-bowler Mohammed Siraj who made his international debut last year has given credit to team India skipper Virat Kohli for taking the pressure off him on his debut. Siraj who played his first T20I against New Zealand on November 4, 2017 told TOI that he was nervous before his first game and had a chat with Kohli. The Indian skipper told him not to worry and be ready for the match.
“Tension mat le, ground pe baat karenge. Bass ready reh kal khelne ke liye’ (Don’t worry, we will talk on the field. Just be ready for your debut match),” he said. Siraj has played three T20 Internationals for India – each coming against different oppositions (New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). He has an impressive record in first-class cricket, picking up 97 wickets from 20 matches at an average of 18.92.
This performance has earned him a place in India’s Test squad for the two-match series against Windies. This came after selectors decided to rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah from the 15-man squad.
Virat Kohli, who was rested from the recently-concluded Asia Cup 2018 in UAE, has also returned to the side. The selectors made some tough decisions by dropping Shikhar Dhawan and his former opening partner Murali Vijay who had a tough tour of England. Instead, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal have been included in the squad and are in line with Siraj to make their Test debut on Thursday.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, while addressing the media ahead of the match, said that India need to quickly adapt to different yet familiar conditions at home. “Here we have to see how the wicket behaves, it is hot here, so we have to adapt to the conditions quickly during the practice sessions,” Rahane said.
He added that players know the Indian conditions and what shots to play here.
“Each and every match is equally important and we are just looking to play to our standards, rather than thinking about our opponents. It is important to start off well, we have two practice sessions before the Test match starts,” he added.