London, July 12 (IANS) India pacer Mohammed Siraj, who is known for using Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Siu’ celebration after taking a wicket, revealed that he felt emotional after knowing about the death of Portugal and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and thought of paying tribute to him on the ground.

Jota and his brother Andre Silva passed away in a car accident on Thursday. The accident took place in the Spanish province of Zamora.

Siraj got his chance on Friday when he dismissed Jamie Smith after lunch and gestured number 20 – Jota’s jersey number in Liverpool – with his hands to pay tribute to the departed soul.

“After knowing about Dioga Jota’s death, I felt emotional as I’m a Portugal fan because Cristiano Ronaldo also plays for that team,” Siraj said in a video shared by BCCI on X.

“Life is very unpredictable. We fight so hard for things, but we do not even know what tomorrow holds. There is no guarantee in life. It was very shocking. Today, I got wickets, so I wanted to make that gesture for him. It was my way of showing respect.”

Siraj returned with the figures of 2-85 while pacer spearhead Jasprit Bumrah bagged a fifer to bundle out England for 387 in their first innings.

Bumrah credited his learnings from the last England tour to make the best use of conditions that resulted in a five-wicket haul at Lord’s.

“I thought about the slope on the last tour, it did not help. My lesson from that was not keep that in mind and I got the benefit of that. In these hot conditions, it is all about maximizing the new ball. It was not like that in the previous tour, that has been the major difference,” Bumrah said.

In response, opener KL Rahul’s unbeaten 53 steered India to 145/3 in 43 overs at stumps. Rishabh Pant, who is not out on 19, and Rahul have so far added 38 runs for the fourth-wicket partnership after quick dismissal of Karun Nair (40) and captain Shubman Gill (16).

–IANS

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