Zimbabwe vs India| KL Rahul gives a lot of freedom to bowlers, team atmosphere is very good: Mohammed Siraj
India Today
Mohammed Siraj said that the atmosphere in Team India is extremely good under the leadership of stand-in captain KL Rahul on the ongoing Zimbabwe tour.
India pacer Mohammed Siraj hailed stand-in captain KL Rahul, saying that he has given the bowlers the utmost freedom to execute their plans on the ongoing Zimbabwe tour and the team atmosphere is fantastic. Siraj was rewarded for his consistency as opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano got an edge in the ninth over for Sanju Samson to pull off a one-handed stunner.
"In West Indies and England I bowled also well, my rhythm was good in the first match as well, so my plan was to hit an area consistently without worrying whether I. would get wickets or not," Siraj, who took one wicket for 16 runs in eight overs, said in the post-match press conference.
"First of all, thank you so much, we have won the series. The atmosphere is extremely good. KL Bhai (Rahul) gives a lot of freedom to the bowlers, so the atmosphere is very good. I am enjoying my bowling a lot because I had the outswing from earlier but I was not too confident about it. Now I have worked more on the seam and I have got the confidence as well, and you must have been seeing that it is releasing nicely from my hand. I was bowling with that rhythm only," Siraj added.
With 40 wickets in 13 Tests, Siraj has impressed in red-ball cricket but he lacked consistency in the white-ball game.
Asked if he had made any changes for white-ball cricket, Siraj said: "I just kept belief on myself, because ups and downs are part of everyone's life, so I just kept belief that I can do it no matter if it is a white ball or red ball.
"So just wanted to keep hitting the right areas and bowl dot balls to build up pressure on the opposition. Starting with the new ball, I went for wickets a few times but as you know white ball doesn't swing much, so I was planning to consistently hit one area and bowl maiden overs."
In five T20Is, Siraj has taken just five wickets, while taking 13 wickets in 10 ODIs.
