Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar gave a brutally honest review of the underperforming pacer Mohammed Siraj and asked the left-arm pacer to be dropped from the Indian side after a string of poor outings in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
Siraj, who was a vital cog in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series win, has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series, having taken 13 wickets in seven innings and not being fierce enough with the new ball, causing extra burden on Jasprit Bumrah’s shoulders.
Gavaskar feels the right-arm quick needs to be told that he is dropped and not rested. "I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can't beat around the bush.".
"You should tell them very bluntly you say 'look, you haven't performed up to the mark, and for this reason, you are being removed.' When you start telling them 'rest,' that's when they get misguided. They feel they have no need to improve in their game," Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Siraj has also topped the unwanted list of having conceded the most runs per over by a frontline pacer in the series, currently averaging 4.07 runs per over. He was totally off his game in the ongoing Boxing Day Test match having conceded 122 runs in 23 overs without getting any scalp to his name in the first innings.
Gavaskar feels that either Harshit Rana, who played the opening two Tests, must be reinstated or Prasidh Krishna be brought into the playing XI for the fifth and final Test in Sydney.
"But Siraj needs to be said that 'Look, you're not bowling as we felt you should on pitches that had aided you'. That has got to be said. You want to make two changes. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to bolster up with Jasprit Bumrah. And do that, if that is what you want".
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