What did Mohammed Siraj do on the middle field that talks of foul play started?

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The first match between India and England has started at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad. The first match of the five-match Test series started with major controversy in the very first session. The controversy revolves around a catch by Mohammed Siraj in the 16th over bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, in which England batsman Jack Crawley played the shot in the air. Mohammad Siraj, standing at mid-off, took the catch, which created a controversial situation.

Controversy over Siraj's catch

The catch taken by Siraj was particularly controversial because the ball was very close to the ground and at one point it seemed as if when Siraj caught the ball, it had already touched the ground. However, upon review, the third umpire found that Siraj had in fact taken a clean catch, leading to Crawley being declared out. After Crawley's dismissal, many questioned the decision and doubted the validity of the catch, especially among Pakistani sports journalists.

England faltered after a strong start.

England won the toss and chose to bat first in Hyderabad. Their opening batsmen Ben Duckett and Jack Crawley provided a fast start and built a brisk partnership in just 10.5 overs. However, his performance declined after England's score crossed 50 runs. As soon as Jadeja and Ashwin came on the attack, England's top 3 batsmen faltered.

Ravichandran Ashwin made the breakthrough

for India by dismissing the dangerous Ben Duckett, who was troubling the spinners with his consistent use of sweeps and reverse sweeps. However, Duckett was trapped by a straight ball from Ashwin. Duckett played an innings of 35 runs in 39 balls. After this, Ollie Pope became the victim of Jadeja and Pope was able to score only 1 run when captain Rohit Sharma caught him. After this, opener Jack Crawley scored 20 runs before getting out. England lost three wickets between 55 and 60 runs. Thus, their promising start suddenly turned into a struggle.