Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood praised his Indian Premier League teammate Mohammad Siraj for his recent performances for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023. This season Siraj was completely on another level of himself. His elegant bowling in the powerplay and control over his line and length in the death was one of the most noticeable transformations he went through over the past year. Hazlewood missed the majority of the IPL action due to an injury but Siraj did not let RCB feel his absence for a minute. Siraj will play in the WTC Final against Australia starting from June 7.
WTC Final: Hazlewood praised Siraj for his consistent performances
"I was a bit late getting there (to RCB this year), but before then he was on fire," Hazlewood said as quoted by International Cricket Council (ICC). His control was great and he is bowling well. He is up there at the top of the wickets every time, and the economy rate was probably the thing as bowling at Chinnaswamy is impossible sometimes and he was going at six or six-and-a-half an over," Hazlewood concluded.
Most of the Indian squad players arrived in the UK on Tuesday. They will be looking to grab hold of the opportunity and win the WTC Final. Last year, New Zealand defeated India in the final of the World Test Championship. There are some players who could play a key role for the Indian team in their crucial match.
The right-arm fast bowler has taken the most number of wickets against England. Siraj took 21 wickets against England. Against Australia, Mohammed Siraj got his first five-wicket haul in 2021. He has taken 14 wickets against Australia.
India's former captain Virat Kohli will be the one to look out for, especially after an impressive IPL 2023 outing. Ravichandran Ashwin will play a very crucial role for India in the final against Australia alongside Shami who won the IPL Orange Cup this season.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steven Smith (vice-capt), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.