ENG vs IND 2025: 'Without Bumrah, Siraj raises his game' - Aakash Chopra

ENG vs IND 2025: 'Without Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj raises his game' - Aakash Chopra (Source: Getty Images)

India entered the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 without the services of Jasprit Bumrah, who has been rested for his workload management concerns. In Bumrah's unavailability, speedster Mohammed Siraj is leading the pace attack, with Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep at the helm. Siraj has been massively impressive with the ball in the first innings, as he took a four-wicket haul and did not let the visiting team miss Bumrah's presence at all.

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra was also in awe of Siraj's consistency of bowling longer spells and giving his absolute best with the ball. Notably, Siraj's bowling average remains 35.00 whenever Bumrah plays, however, the stats absolutely change for good, as the Hyderabad-born takes wickets at 25.59 without his senior bowling partner on the field. Chopra finds that Siraj might go for a few runs, but he sticks to his plan of bowling longer spells.

“He raises his game when Bumrah isn't there. The start wasn't good. They were getting hit. When we were playing, it seemed like a green top and batting looked very difficult, but when they came, it seemed like it had become a road. They were hitting at seven to eight runs per over. That was dangerous,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“He might not be bowling well, might be getting hit for runs, straying down the leg at times, or conceding at a higher economy rate. These things might be an issue for Siraj, which can happen to everyone, but have you ever seen him bowl at 70 percent? Has it ever happened that Siraj has not put his everything into the game when he is bowling?” the cricketer-turned-commentator further explained.

Notably, Mohammed Siraj's four-fer was an important personal milestone for the pacer, as he also became the highest wicket-taker in the series so far, with 18 wickets in just eight innings. His fiery spell was the reason India were able to bundle England out for just 247, after the hosts had enjoyed a white-ball-like start to their innings. England gained a narrow 23-run lead, but it handed India a great opportunity to score big in their second go with the bat, and bank on Siraj's skills once again to wrap things up in style. The Day 3 will begin with India resuming at 75 for 2.