 "Mohammed Siraj has surpassed Sachin Tendulkar in an unexpected feat. Reuters")
Mohammed Siraj once again proved why he is considered one of India’s most trusted fast bowlers, delivering a powerful spell on Day 2 of the final Test against England at The Oval. Just when it looked like England batters were running away with the game, Siraj stepped up with a brilliant post-lunch performance.
Siraj got India right back in the match with his four-wicket haul. He dismissed Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, and Harry Brook to wrap up England’s innings at 247. He was helped by Prasidh Krishna, who took a four-fer of his own. Akash Deep also contributed with one wicket to his name.
Siraj surpasses Tendulkar
With these four wickets, Siraj now has 203 international wickets in 101 matches, going past the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who had 201 wickets in his career. Tendulkar was known for his batting, but he could also bowl when needed. It must be a big moment for Siraj to move ahead of him in the record books.
Siraj’s 203 wickets include 118 in Tests, 71 in ODIs, and 14 in T20Is. He also became the top wicket-taker of the series with 18 wickets so far, overtaking England skipper Ben Stokes, who has 17 and is not playing this match because of an injury.
Siraj has joined an elite group of Indian fast bowlers. He is now the 15th Indian pacer to take 200 or more international wickets. The list is led by Kapil Dev with 687 wickets, followed by Zaheer Khan (597) and Javagal Srinath (551). Mohammed Shami (462), Jasprit Bumrah (457) and Ishant Sharma (434) are also ahead in the list.
Other big names in the 200-plus club include Ajit Agarkar (349), Irfan Pathan (301), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (292), Umesh Yadav (288), Manoj Prabhakar (253), Ashish Nehra (233), and Hardik Pandya (202).
Impact Shorts
More ShortsJoe Root goes past Tendulkar
Meanwhile, Joe Root crossed Tendulkar in runs. Root’s 29-run knock in the same innings helped him overtake Tendulkar’s tally of 7216 Test runs at home, putting him second on the list of most runs in home Tests. Only Ricky Ponting (7578) has more than Root now.
Root, who already passed Ponting in total Test runs during the last Test at Old Trafford, now has 13,438 runs in 158 Tests. Tendulkar still leads the all-time list with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests.