“Sarakku iruku paiyan-kitte” (‘the boy has great talent, he has the goods) ”, used to say Bharat Arun, bowling coach of the India team, about Mohammed Siraj. “You suggest something and he has the skill and temperament to produce it perfectly”, words to that effect. Arun has been talking about Siraj for the last 14 months or so. Another delusion he used to use was “Test pitch launcher, red ball launcher pitch soon!”
If Arun’s appreciation was genuine, so was the gratitude in Siraj’s response. “Arun sir is a farishta, (guardian angel), he came into my life and changed everything. The trust he gave me was limitless, the way he supports me. He would say, ‘Your tension nako-king (don’t accept the tension), you will play for India,’ ”Siraj shared in a daily video posted by his IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, a couple of months ago.
The brief backstory of the two is that when Arun was RCB’s assistant coach, he was impressed with Siraj, who had come to play nets in Hyderabad. When Arun took over as head coach of the Hyderabad Ranji Trophy in the upcoming national season, his striking bowler was Siraj, who finished as the third most wickered player in the country. The happiest and proudest person on the MCG in Siraj’s crafty debut would have certainly been Arun.
READ | With a dream debut, Mohammed Siraj fulfills his late father’s dream
Bowler debuts are often observed for what they do. The tangibles: the outswingers, nip-backers, leg cutters, reverse swing and more. Also intangibles: if they belong to this level. Siraj has checked that box too. He introduced himself as a thinking bowler. He pitched into a field, stuck to the team plan and adapted to the situation.
“Maut daal diyen, miyan,” he would say to Siraj R Sridhar, India’s fielding coach, in an end-of-day video posted by BCCI on his debut day. (‘You killed him!’, In Hyderabadi slang). AB de Villiers prefixed the nickname ‘Magic’ to miyan at the most recent IPL where Siraj became ‘MiyanMagic.
“AB sir gave me that, it is also very good (name)!” Siraj says in that RCB video, where he talks about his family’s financial struggles, his love for his father, his hero worship for Virat Kohli and Dhoni’s life lesson to ‘ignore opinions’.
Stumps on day 3 of the 2nd test.
Australia 195 and 133/6, leads India (326) by 2 races.
Scorecard: https://t.co/HL6BBFdHmw #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/VZb5xUUcRd
– BCCI (@BCCI) December 28, 2020
Conditions at MCG didn’t allow Siraj to produce a dream ball like the one he drew to knock Prithvi Shaw out of his body at this IPL, but MiyanMagic certainly killed him in the spell he cast on Cameron Green, doing his best. to clean the halo of Australia’s new wonder boy. The plan that had been drawn up for him was clear: go for the lbw.
Understandably, there has been talk of the immediate sequence of the wicket catch – three balls swinging backwards and out before Green was carried away by the platform kicker – but the effort had begun long ago. The wicket came in ’62, the process began in ’48, spread to both sides of the tea break. Patience, concentration, skill, and the ability to survive and be smarter.
During two complete passes on the Green before tea, Siraj kept folding the ball inward repeatedly, earning a good lbw scream. After tea, with a short midwicket and a square leg, he kept curling them inward. Only on Green, mind you. Whenever Tim Paine went on strike, he pushed them away with the bright side. Control over the reverse swing was already noteworthy.
Green was right to put his hands in front of his pad and move the balls to the side. And again. That’s when Siraj decided to mix it up. On the next lap, the 60th of innings, he had three balls on the putting green, all fit. The first three balls of the next over, 62, fell back again. So six in a row, now. It was then that the whole ball, recoiling, reappeared at the crime scene to hit the platform. It’s no wonder Siraj was so excited, because the effort had spanned nearly eight draws that included a break for some tea and chips before he could have Green for dessert.
In the meantime, he had eliminated Marnus Labuschagne with a full ball going in, which turned into a ditch. He tried the trick again on the third day. Five of his first six balls were on the stumps, trying to get the lbw, with the aerial film as an extra to go. The seventh cut off sharply from the outside and elicited a very good shout from lbw. The next ball was another hat to Siraj’s presence of mind and precision. A sharp, well-aimed gorilla came in and Labuschagne nearly ducked just past the square leg with a weak jerk. Maut daal diye, miyan!
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