Kusal Mendis had heard the sound of stumps rattling and some 30,000 people at the Wankhede going berserk, but he just had to make sure he had been cleaned up. So, he looked behind. Perhaps hoping for a split second that his ears had deceived him. They hadn’t. Mohammed Siraj had run through him and Sri Lanka once again. Siraj bagged three wickets within his first two overs as the Indian bowlers, riding on an inspired five-wicket haul by Mohammed Shami, pierced through the Sri Lankan batting line up. In Mumbai on Thursday they were bowled out for just 55. In mid-September, for 50 in the final of the Asia Cup. Siraj had a major role to play in that famous win too, which set the tone for India’s unbeaten charge at the World Cup.
After his 6/21 in that final though, he looked back at another ODI against Sri Lanka – in January. “Last time, I did the same against them at Trivandrum. Got four wickets early, couldn’t get the five-for. As much as is found in my destiny, it is my destiny today. (You only get what’s in your fate. Today, a six-fer was in my fate),” he said.
Fate and faith have been the bedrock of Siraj’s phenomenal rise as a leading fast bowler. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar seconds.
“God has been kind to him and with his father’s blessings, he’s had the right people at the right place at the right time,” he tells The Indian Express before adding how Siraj has forged his own Naseeb.
By being a receptive player, that’s the first observation Sridhar has of him. “Siraj is very naive, like a clean slate. Very coachable, no baggage. Always seeking out and open to ideas.”
Then comes an inspiring trait from the man whose celebration Siraj has now imported from football to cricket.
Like Cristiano Ronaldo, the 29-year-old is a workhorse. It was on display in Mumbai the other night. As it was during his four-wicket-over in the Asia Cup Final in September. Steaming in at full throttle and having struck thrice in the over already, Siraj sprinted all the way down to long on to avoid a boundary off his own bowling.
It would leave Virat Kohli in splits at the slip cordon. Sridhar admits to having a laugh while watching it unfold live. “He could’ve even stopped it,” he chuckles before the conversation veers to the man who stood in the cordon.
“Siraj doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration. Him being close quarters to Virat round the year, changing franchise and going to RCB, heading the bowling attack there under Virat has really helped him.”
Debut story
Sridhar flips the pages back to Siraj’s Test debut in Melbourne three years ago.
“He didn’t bowl till lunch, and then didn’t have a great first spell. Four overs, 30 runs something,” he recalls. “Then he came back and the dressing room chat was, ‘Think the ball will start doing a little extra now. You can make the ball talk.’ Because the wicket was drier and getting quicker. We thought he can come in more useful when the ball gets older and starts swinging.”
And swing he did. Thrice away from Cameron Green before bringing one in trap him LBW. Keeping it full and on the stumps for Labuschagne until one strayed down the leg and was nicked to the leg slip. Three more wickets in the second innings and by the end of the match, the then India fielding coach had a one liner for the debutant you can rewatch on bcci.tv.
“Maut daal diye Miyan! (You killed it!).”
What makes the debut even more memorable are the tragic circumstances which unraveled during the tour.
Sridhar remembers it like yesterday. “We landed in Sydney and on the second day unfortunately, he lost his father. He couldn’t have gone back and come back in time to play the series as per Covid protocols. Ravi Shastri spoke to his brother and everyone involved, and he took the decision that Siraj will have to stay back. Important conversation happened there with Ravi, Arun, myself and Siraj, on channelising his energy. It was what his father would’ve wanted. His dream was for Siraj to get a Test cap. Two tests later, he was leading the Indian bowling attack. Would you have imagined that happening? Felt like somebody up there was playing the cards.”
Test cricket route
Sridhar, who saw Siraj make his first appearance for India across all three formats during his tenure with the national team, believes that after meager returns on his T20I and ODI starts, a strong first Test series in Australia and his red-ball career since have upped the quick’s white ball credentials.
Now a mainstay in India’s white-ball team, he was then overlooked for three ODIs and as many T20Is that preceded the Tests in Australia. “In hindsight, it was good that he didn’t play those games. Gave him a lot of time to work on his red ball skills. Not just his bowling but also his fitness,” Sridhar says. “It took a while for him to learn the nuances of international cricket but I think once he made his Test debut, his white ball performances started getting better.”
For starters, it is Siraj’s length — straight out of the Test bowling manual. During his seven over mayhem in Colombo last month, the right arm pacer had pitched 72 percent of his overall deliveries in the good length region. At this World Cup, Siraj – alongwith Bumrah and Shami – have been relentless in pitching the ball in the 6-8m zone.
Then, his use of the angles from bowling wide/close to the stumps coupled with the ability to swing/seam the ball. Like the delivery he used to remove Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis the other night. In the lead up to the wicket-taking delivery, Siraj had bowled closer to the stumps and taken the ball away from the right handers.
The wicket ball one however, was bowled from wide of the crease, and swooshed in to crackle the top of off. Upon first glance, it felt like it had come in an awful lot. But one needs to revisit the trajectory mapper, which was shown by the broadcasters afterwards. While the release point was almost in line to the wide ball marking, by the time it pitched, the ball had come around the fictional fourth stump and seemed destined to go down the middle and leg. Mendis’ front foot defence on the middle stump line made sense. The ball not moving as much and affecting the off stump didn’t. Then again, it’s a delivery Siraj has chiseled quite a bit over the years.
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Having lost his inswinger, it’s the wobble seam delivery that Siraj relies upon to nip the ball into the right handers, and away from the left handers. England’s Moeen Ali and Sam Curran would remember those. Siraj would induce edges off both southpaws enroute to a famous win at the Lord’s Test back in 2021.
“That Lord’s Test did him a world of good,” Sridhar believes. With that slope? “Yeah. Arun had prepared him for that 2.5 meter drop. Virat put a ball in his hand. Bowling wicket to wicket… that just took his confidence level to another degree.” And then, at the start of the year, India’s present bowling coach Paras Mhambrey went gaga over the same delivery. After Siraj had used it to run through the gates of right-handed Wanindu Hasaranga. In Trivandrum.
On Thursday at the Wankhede, one of those bamboozled its way through Dushmantha Chameera – almost picking up an inside edge as it went past the stumps. Even KL Rahul couldn’t get to it with a full stretch dive. Siraj had maybe put a little too much into it, or as he’d suggest: a wicket off that delivery wasn’t in his Naseeb. Good for India though, he doesn’t leave it all in the hands of fate.
