'You forget what he did over in Australia'- Brad Hogg comes to Siraj's rescue

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has come to the rescue of under-fire Indian seamer Mohammed Siraj following the latter's poor performance in the Edgbaston Test against England.

The right-arm seamer, who had a breakout first season in international cricket last year, came under immense criticism from Indian fans following his poor performance in the 5th Test.

But Hogg is having none of it. The former chinaman spinner believes that setbacks like this will only help Siraj learn and grow. He also recounted how he learnt a similar lesson during his first trip to the UK in 1996.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Hogg said: "This is a great thing, you are giving opportunities to the likes of Siraj. He got belted over there in that Test match against  England but at the end of the day, they are good lessons to be learnt. Bit like me coming here in 1996 and going, I’ve got to learn a lot more.

‘He is going to have a bad tournament and that is a lesson for him

"When you say bad things about him because he didn’t have a good match there, you forget what he did over in Australia when he led that attack when India were depleted. He won the series for you by carrying that attack over there. So he has got a good mindset, courage, wants to be in the contest now and then he is going to have a bad tournament and that is a lesson for him," added Hogg.

Siraj has thus far played 13 Tests in which he has claimed 40 wickets at an average of 30.77.