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Business Standard

Siraj honours Diogo Jota, calls life unpredictable after emotional moment

India pacer Mohamemd Siraj has said he felt really emotional on hearing the news about Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota's death in a car accident, and his gesture after taking the wicket of Jaime Smith on day 2 of the third Test against England here was a tribute to the Portuguese forward. After dismissing Smith, Siraj indicated the number '20' -- Jota's jersey number at Liverpool -- with his fingers. He then raised both hands skywards as a mark of respect for the footballer, who along with his brother Andre Silva died in a mishap in the Zamora region of Spain on July 3 while returning to Liverpool for a pre-season training. Siraj, said he wanted to pay his respect in the last Test itself, which India won by 336 runs to level the series. "We got to know during the last match (in Birmingham) that Diogo Jota has died in an accident," Siraj said in a video posted by BCCI. "Because I am a Portugal fan, and because CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) plays for that team, I felt emotional. I wanted to do it (pay my tribute) in the last match itself." "I had spoken with Kuldeep (Yadav) that I want to make a gesture for Diogo Jota. Today (Friday) I have got a wicket so I made the gesture," he added. Expressing his thoughts on the unpredictability of life, the pacer philosophically said, no one knows what will happen the next moment. "Life is very unpredictable yaar, apan kis ke liye lad rahe, kis ke liye kar rahe par kal ka hi pata nahi hai, life ka kuch bharosa nahi hai. (Life is very unpredictable, dear friend. Who are we fighting for, who are we doing it for but we don't know what will happen tomorrow. There is nothing certain in life). "I was shocked on how such a thing can happen, that too in a car accident. (Since) I got a wicket, so I thought as a gesture to Diogo Jota, Jersey No. 20, and this was the reason behind it," Siraj added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)