Blockbuster Siraj once again shows he is no longer a sidekick،
There is one week left to go back to that memorable day three years ago that Mohammed Siraj did. The day he went from being the punching bag with the worst IPL economy – among 92 bowlers who had bowled at least 100 overs till then – to heavyweight champion.
The day he showed he could make the new ball dance to his tunes and strike out highly skilled hitters. Amid a glut of T20s where performances come and go, Siraj left a lasting impression that evening.
Watching from afar at his farm in Alibaug, the then Indian head coach Ravi Shastri knew he could be an asset against Australia in two months’ time. The performance set in stone a series of life-changing months in which Siraj went from being just another IPL bowler to an Indian cricketer in December, the day after Christmas. Since then, Siraj’s has seen a sharp increase.
When Jasprit Bumrah was injured and out of action for ten months due to a back injury, Siraj accepted the responsibility of being front and center in India’s top flight, alongside Mohammed Shami. He was no longer the hero’s sidekick; he was hit material himself.
Part of the reason for his improvement and elevation was his desire to learn and improve. It was helpful to have a sounding board like Bharat Arun, who helped him hone his skills. But even though the Siraj of 2020 could move the ball both ways, he was not the old-fashioned bowler like he is today.
Now, Rohit Sharma is counting on him to deliver on his promises through the phases. Even though he doesn’t start off well, the aftereffects don’t last long enough to seep into his next spell. And when he’s in the crease, as he was in the Asia Cup final not long ago, hitters can be easy targets.
On Saturday, in his first World Cup match against Pakistan, Siraj got off to a bad start. He was looking for swing, but there was none. And trying to bowl full, he kept bowling half-volleys which were picked off three boundaries by Imam-ul-Haq during his opening over.
On the other end of the line, Bumrah kept the lid tight. As Siraj stood tall after his third over, replacement Suryakumar Yadav came with a message. What was said remains anyone’s guess. It’s entirely possible that they weren’t talking about cricket at all. But there was a slight change in Siraj’s plans upon his return.
Siraj started to shorten his lengths considerably. He jumped up and hit the deck violently. The black dirt deck didn’t give it the same intensity or bounce that a red dirt surface would have, but at least the plan was to not err on the side of fullness. On the last delivery in his fourth over, he trapped Abdullah Shafique lbw with a length ball which stayed a little low. This is something Siraj brought up in the post-match press conference.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said when asked if there were plans to go shorter. “With the new ball, you have to see if it swings or not. You can throw it from the start and [afford to] be hit by some limitations because it is a very large format. Then you understand which line is better on this wicket.
“Then we keep hitting those areas. Abdullah Shafique’s wicket was a plan because I had spoken to Rohit. bhai. I had already bowled a bouncer to him, but it got stuck in the middle. Then I spoke to Rohit for a while and spent some time there. He [Shafique] I thought I was going to bowl with a bouncer again. He was behind, I threw the ball and I made it.”
After winning the Player of the Match award for 2 for 19 from his seven overs, Bumrah explained that his first instinct is to try and read a surface quickly and then formulate plans to play on it. Siraj explained how he picked up clues while watching Bumrah leave.
“If you don’t get a wicket, you increase the pressure and put dot balls. When Jassi [Bumrah] “When you are on the third man boundary or the final over, you can see which line is better on the wicket,” Siraj said. “When you are on the third man or final over boundary, you can see the line and get feedback from the keeper as well about which line is better on that wicket. So it becomes easier to execute.”
Siraj’s second wicket of the day was perhaps his biggest. This helped break a thriving 82-run stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Brought back, he struck in the second over of a new spell – in the 30th – with a sliding cross-shot that beat Babar for pace as he attempted to go deep in the third, a shot that Babar is proud to play better than most. This wicket opened the floodgates. Pakistan went from cruising at 155 for 2 to 191 in total.
“I started bowling from third over,” Siraj said when asked how he found his rhythm. “In the end, there were chances that the ball would reverse. When I played with the seam, it came easily to the bat. With the cross seam, I thought there might be a low bounce; sometimes YOU [also] get extra bounce. It worked. You saw the result.”
The result was indeed excellent. Bumrah walked away with the honors, and deservedly so, but it helped him greatly to have capable support that night, with Siraj playing more than just a cameo.
