Shamik Chakrabarty at Eden Gardens
On Sunday, that is match-day minus one, the Eden Gardens pitch had a decent cover of grass. It is expected to be trimmed and Kolkata Knight Riders’ spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe hoped that the surface would be similar to the Sunrisers Hyderabad game. KKR won that match by 80 runs.
KKR have a good pace attack. Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, their two frontline Indian seamers, have been bowling well. But their opponents on Monday, the high-flying Gujarat Titans, have been thriving on the resurgence of two fast bowlers who are probably a wee bit more skilful than their KKR counterparts. Mohammed Siraj is an established name in Indian cricket. Prasidh Krishna has been showing in this IPL that there’s more to him than just hitting the deck.
The two GT quicks so far have accounted for 25 scalps, but looking at the bigger picture, Siraj regaining his mojo — 11 wickets from seven games at an average of 22.81 — is excellent news for Indian cricket. India need him bowling in top fettle in the upcoming five-Test series in England. And although this is a completely different format, antipodean to red-ball cricket, there could well be a trickle-down effect. If the numbers swell in the wickets column, that could do wonders to a bowler’s confidence.
Siraj came to the GT fold a little low on confidence. Royal Challengers Bengaluru had released him ahead of the mega auction. He lost place in the Indian white-ball sides. Maybe, he needed someone like Ashish Nehra — GT’s head coach — by his side to start believing again.
“As far as instilling confidence in players, there’s no better coach than Ashish,” Vikram Solanki, GT’s director of cricket, said at the pre-match press conference. “I might be slightly biased, of course, as far as that view is concerned. So I will acknowledge that. But it just seems as though we have got a guy that has something to prove.”
Missing out on the Champions Trophy selection was obviously a disappointment for Siraj. He has channelled that in a positive direction. Solanki said as much.
“He (Siraj) was disappointed, as any cricketer is when not selected,” said Solanki. “Everybody wants to play at the highest level possible. So I’m sure he was disappointed. But he has channelled that disappointment in working hard and having a real thought about what he wants to do.”
Once again, GT’s director of cricket lavished praise on Nehra. “He (Siraj) got a great coach in Nehra, (who is) just helping him as far as his performance is concerned. Long may that continue, long may that connection continue and long may Mohamed Siraj continue to thrive.”