“He reminded me of Kapil Dev” - Yograj Singh hails Mohammed Siraj

Former Indian cricketer Yograj Singh has hailed the Indian seamer Mohammed Siraj, who was exceptional on the England tour, scalping 23 wickets from five Tests to emerge as the leading wicket-taker of the five-Test series.

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The Hyderabad-born pacer was compared to the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev by Yograj, who further heaped praises on the newly appointed Indian Test captain, Shubman Gill, adding that it didn’t seem like he was captaining the Test side for the first time.

Notably, Siraj was the lone pacer from both teams to play all five Tests on the England tour. On the other hand, Shubman Gill concluded the tour as the leading run-scorer, accumulating 754 runs from 10 innings.

"The way our players have played, it was amazing to watch. The way Mohammed Siraj bowled, he reminded me of Kapil Dev. The captaincy of Shubman Gill was mature. It did not seem at all that he was a captain for the first time," Yograj told ANI.

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After steering India to an exceptional six-run victory at the Oval, Siraj revealed the reason behind his success, adding that he had a lot of belief that he could it for his country. Notably, Siraj scalped a nine–wicket match haul at the Oval.

“To be honest, it feels amazing. From Day 1 everyone fought hard and the result is there to see. Very happy. The plan was to keep it simple and hit a consistent spot. Not try too much and if I can get wickets from there it's a bonus and build pressure. When I woke up today I had the belief that I could do it, I had the belief system. I took a photo from Google which read I can do it and put it as my wallpaper,” Siraj said after the match.

While Siraj concluded the Oval Test with the player of the match award, Shubman Gill was awarded the player of the series alongside Harry Brook.

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