“He’s got this, like, fake angriness about him sometimes, which I can see straight through. He’s actually a really nice lad, but he tries it incredibly hard.”

As compliments go, this will be hard to beat. Joe Root said a million nice things about Mohammed Siraj on Sunday evening, but this was as lovely as it gets, a true tribute from one unyielding competitor to another.

Lion-hearted hero

Off the field, Siraj is docile, quiet, unassuming. But once he crosses the boundary rope, he is seized by white-line fever. He snarls and snaps, but a smile is never far away. No one has worn a wry grin after repeatedly beating the bat with greater panache than the lion-hearted Hyderabadi, who worked his way into every Indian’s heart after his heroics at the Oval on Monday morning.