Shamik Chakrabarty
There have been better fast bowlers than Mohammed Siraj in Indian cricket. Kapil Dev and Jasprit Bumrah are all-time greats. Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Mohammed Shami, too, trump Siraj in terms of skill-set and achievements. But when it comes to fighting spirit and rising to occasions, the 31-year-old from Hyderabad concedes very little to those illustrious names.
Siraj has an impeccable fitness record. Since making his Test debut in Melbourne in December 2020, he has played 39 matches and bowled 5,960 balls. Compare this with Bumrah, who made his Test debut at Cape Town in January 2018. He has played only eight more Tests (47) and hurled 3,190 more deliveries than Siraj despite debuting almost three years earlier. Yes, Bumrah has taken 217 wickets at an average of 19.48. But he is a freak and shouldn’t be compared with the lesser mortals.
Siraj’s tally of 113 wickets at an average of 30.88 doesn’t make him a great of the game. Far from it. On flat pitches in the subcontinent he has struggled, mainly because of his length. But from the Indian team’s perspective, and in the context of the ongoing England-India series, he is invaluable.
Siraj is a strong character who revels under pressure. He likes to take responsibility. At Edgbaston, after Bumrah decided to cool his heels with India one-down in the series, someone needed to stand up to be counted. Siraj and Akash Deep had offset Bumrah’s absence in that game, sharing 17 wickets between them. Siraj was the leader, with 6/70 in the first innings. In the second innings, although he took only a wicket, his bowling with the older ball was first class — a perfect riposte to Rohit Sharma’s comment before the Champions Trophy (50-over format) that pointed out how Siraj’s “effectiveness” with the “old ball” was a reason for his omission. Rohit’s race in Test cricket is run.
Siraj showed remarkable character at the Gabba as well, once again in Bumrah’s absence, when India had breached the fortress in 2021. A second innings five-for had set-up India’s memorable win, although Rishabh Pant deservingly was the headline act. Siraj was playing only his third Test.
At a time when workload management for fast bowlers is en vogue, Siraj hardly ever complains about his fitness. Stats don’t lie, and since 2023, Siraj has played 24 of India’s 27 Tests. No wonder that Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, saluted this lion-hearted cricketer.
“We take for granted how lucky we are to have someone like that,” Ten Doeschate told reporters in London a couple of days ago. “I know he doesn’t always get the returns you might expect from a fast bowler, but in terms of heart, he is like a lion. Every time he has the ball in hand, you get the sense that something is about to happen.”
Lady Luck wasn’t on Siraj’s side at Lord’s. Catches were dropped off his bowling. And then, the denouement was cruel — the ball rolling onto the stumps off a perfectly-played back foot defensive shot. Siraj looked distraught.
The beauty of cricket, though, is that things get evened out over a period of time. Siraj deserves a bit of the rub of the green at Old Trafford. And he must not lose his in-your-face aggression. To heck with the fine — 15 per cent of his match fee — for a “Level 1” breach at Lord’s.
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