On July 14 at Lord’s, Mohammed Siraj sat on his haunches, gutted, as the ball trickled off Shoaib Bashir’s delivery to dislodge his stumps. That dismissal crushed India’s hopes and left Siraj visibly broken. Twenty days later at The Oval, Siraj stood tall, having shattered Gus Atkinson’s stumps to seal a dramatic six-run win and level the series 2-2. His celebration said it all. A leap, a turn, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic ‘Siuuu’, which was Siraj’s tribute to belief, endurance, and one unforgettable journey. The pacer revealed that he woke up two hours earlier than usual on Monday (6 instead of 8). After waking up, Siraj had woken up and pulled out a wallpaper on his phone. It featured Ronaldo with a single word — Believe. “I told myself that I will do it for the country,” he said. After the match, he showed that wallpaper to the media, a symbol of the fire that fuelled him.
With Jasprit Bumrah missing, Siraj became India’s spearhead, grinding through 30.1 overs for figures of 5 for 104. “I don’t care if it’s the sixth over or the ninth over for me. I don’t bowl for myself, it is for my country,” he said, brushing aside concerns over fatigue. Even when Harry Brook smashed a century after Siraj narrowly missed a boundary catch, he didn’t stop believing. “I thought the match was gone,” he admitted, “but thank God.” It was Jadeja who reminded Siraj mid-innings of his late father’s sacrifices. “He told me, ‘Think about your father and what he went through. Win this for him.’”
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Do you think Siraj’s tribute to Ronaldo influenced his performance?
Captain Shubman Gill summed it up best, saying “I couldn’t believe someone could make an 80-over old ball talk so much. Siraj is every skipper’s dream.”
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