‘Siraj would finish by…’: R Ashwin speaks about his Father trusting Indian pacer to win Lord’s Test

It was a close call between India and England during the third Test at Lord’s. Both the teams had posted 387 runs in their first innings, and the hosts gave the visitors a target of 193. Chasing their score, the Shubman Gill-led side got wrapped up for 170 runs due to a collapse in the top and middle-order.

Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah made strong effort to keep the Indian side alive, followed by a strong partnership between Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj. However, the pacer’s unfortunate dismissal cost the visitors to lose the match by 22 runs. Speaking about the incident former star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that his father had believed Siraj would slam three sixes to finish the match.

“I was discussing this with my father. He was assured that Siraj would finish it by smashing three sixes. I was asking him to cut down the jokes. Looking at Ben Stokes, he started talking about a bowler from his league games, who used to bowl from both ends,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj were the final standing wicket for India, and their partnership made it look like the team would eventually win. However, on the 30th ball that Siraj faced, the ball was defended up front, but it rolled back to the stumps and dropped the bail.

“What a battle. It was an amazing Test match. It was a battle among equals. Both teams were challenging each other to the limits and it ended at this moment. Look at how Crawley and Root are consoling Siraj with an arm around him. The beauty of this Test match was that every player was at loggerheads with each other. It was theatrical,” Ashwin said.

Even though the Indian team lost the Lord’s Test and are trailing the series 1-2, they still have a chance to win as they aim to win the upcoming two matches- with the next match set to be held at Manchester from July 23rd