England head coach Brendon McCullum was confused between Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj as his choice for the Player Of The Series post India’s win at The Oval.
The same was revealed by Dinesh Karthik in an exclusive chat after the end of the final Test and the series. The series ended 2-2 with India winning the Oval Test by six runs.
Gill topped the run-scoring charts with 754 runs in the series. In the process of getting there, he broke a plethora of records. On the other hand, Siraj finished with 23 wickets in the series and bowled his heart out in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.
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Brendon McCullum Turned It Around In 40 Minutes - Dinesh Karthik
It was a dramatic end to the Test match and the series as India denied England their last 35 runs to win the series. If it was not all, Brendon McCullum decided to add more drama to the plot. He wanted to make a last-minute switch on his Player Of The Series call from Gill to Siraj.
Dinesh Karthik, who was working with Cricbuzz and Sky Sports during the series as an expert, revealed the same. He said how McCullum had made up his mind on Gill after the end of day 4 but then decided to swap to Siraj given how he bowled in the final day.
“If the match had gotten over yesterday (Day 4), Shubman Gill was the man of the series. “Brendon McCullum had said Shubman Gill. And obviously, Atherton [Mike Atherton] was the one doing the presentation. So, he had all the questions ready. Everything was for Shubman Gill” Karthik said.
“Baz McCullum turned it around in a matter of half an hour, 40 minutes — to Mohammed Siraj. He even spoke about him in the post-match with Sky Sports — about how he enjoyed watching Siraj bowl and all the eloquent things he had to say about him” he further said.
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McCullum Praises Siraj's Energy And Determination
Meanwhile, England head coach Brendon McCullum praised Mohammed Siraj’s exploits with the ball in the final morning after he took three of the last four England wickets to fall.
“He’s got that spirit you want to see in a fast bowler. Every time he had the ball in hand, there was energy. You could see how much it meant to him. It was one of those spells that can change a series, and today, it really did” McCullum said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
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