England’s star batsman Joe Root praised Mohammed Siraj as a determined competitor, but chastised him for the phony anger he displays against opponents. The Indian pacer has been an absolute workhorse for his team and the leading wicket-taker in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Series.
In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, the focus was on Siraj on Day 4 of the fifth Test, as England attempted to chase down a difficult 374-run total in the series’ last session. In his fifth consecutive encounter, the seamer bowled a probing opening stint, particularly against Ben Duckett, before getting the breakthrough by trapping Ollie Pope LBW once more.
Joe Root who was bowled out by Siraj in the first innings recovered well in the second. He made a great innings and scored a historic hundred.
Root has made some comments about Siraj after the match. He believes Siraj is not only a fiery bowler. Root hailed the spirit of Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj by saying, Deep down, he is a real fighter.
“He (Siraj) is a character, he is a warrior, he is a real warrior. He is someone you want on your team, he is that kind of character. He gives everything for India and credit to him for that. He’s got this like fake angriness about him sometimes, which I can see straight through. I enjoy playing against him, he has got a big smile on his face,” Root said during the press conference after Day 4 (via Times of India).
Joe Root struck an impressive 105 runs from 152 deliveries, partnering Harry Brook in the run chase. Mohammed Siraj, on the other side, had numbers of 2-95 after 26 overs of the innings.
Joe Root also made nice comments about Prasidh Krishna, who bowled his wicket in the 73 rd over. There was a minor interaction between the two on the field in the first innings but Root clarified the situation later on. According to him, his anger demonstrated after leaving the ground has nothing to do with the defeat to Prasidh but he felt that he had failed his team at a vital moment.
“Prasidh is a proven performer, he is a brilliant player. You don’t play for India as a seamer without having a huge amount of talent. Clearly he is going to do great things in the game, but it was not anything between the two of us, that was more frustration from my part for not getting us over the line. That is where the frustration came from. There was no overhang from what happened in the first innings or anything like that.”
Joe Root
The players exchanged a friendly smile at the start of the day, signaling that everything was fine between them following the heated incident earlier in the game.
Joe Root Explains Frustrated Reaction After Dismissal in 5th Test Against India
Joe Root cut a frustrated figure after nicking one to Dhruv Jurel just as England looked set to take complete control of the run chase. After losing Jacob Bethell’s wicket a few overs ago, the twin strike gave the opposition hope.
The ace batsman said that he slammed his bat in frustration after being disqualified because he thought the delivery was perfectly positioned for a comfortable boundary.
“I mean in that scenario, we’d obviously come back out after the break. It started to do a little bit more, they bowled in some really good areas for that period of time and got it moving around, and I was more disappointed I missed out on what I thought should have gone for four.”
Joe Root
After Joe Root was removed, there was little play feasible because poor lighting and rain arrived to take the contest to the final day. England is still 35 runs away from an outright series victory, while India requires four more wickets to tie the series.
