Conditions may or may not be helpful. There is no substitute for verve, pace and intensity. Even if the pitch is benign, a fast bowler can extract something from it when the ball is new, if he or she hits the right area. A bit of luck is needed to make the effect telling. Edges have to carry and be caught. Borderline cases have to go in favour of the bowler. Above all, the bowler has to get the act right.
On a sunny morning in Cape Town, Mohammed Siraj had everything going his way. There was movement and bounce. The ball deviated off the surface and also swung in the air. The South African batters appeared unsure and Siraj took full toll. In the history of Indian cricket about 90 years old, there has never been any instance of a fast bowler wrecking such havoc in the first session of a Test.
Think of it! A team opting to bat on winning the toss after making 408 in the previous Test in trying conditions for batting gets psyched out for 55 in 23.2 overs. Siraj’s 9-3-15-6 must rank top for a fast bowler outside India in a long, long time. He was incisive, kept going at the batter all the time. Body language, eye contact with the batter after beating the edge, this was aggro all over.
Siraj is a nasty bowler to contend with. He can be mean. He does not care who is at the opposite end. There have been craftier Indian fast bowlers, who looked somewhat timid at times against big names. They got awed by the situation and somewhere, their skills got compromised. There is nothing like that with Siraj. He charges in with the intention of causing damage. He means menace.
Cape Town, grass on a pitch offering something and a line-up still to find the right people for the right places, this was meant for Siraj. To his credit, he did not overdo. It’s not unusual for a fast bowler to get carried away in helpful conditions. They get too excited. Guilty of this earlier, Siraj was not treading that path on his most successful day in Test cricket.
IND vs SA | Lunch: Live Discussion https://t.co/zMODF8Edkj
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 3, 2024
He was unerring. There was hardly a freebie, wide or full. The length and line he maintained in this unforgettable spell was as good as it could have been. The ball was either hitting the bat or beating it. Batters were not allowed to play strokes. They were always under the cosh.
Almost all the deliveries Siraj bowled had to be played at. His length invited the batters to come forward and it then caught them in awkward positions. The bounce with subtle and late movement he extracted was lethal and invariably hit the shoulder of the blade of the bat. The ball pounding the pitch and jumping more than the batter’s estimates was the hallmark.
South Africa are stunned! Mohammed Siraj bags his sixth with the Proteas lingering at 45/7#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/w6f3Iycdj3
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) January 3, 2024
This was like what was that! It happened so fast. It was a little-too-good to believe to begin with and then became the norm. By the time South Africa realised what hit them, they were badly hurt. This should rank among the most audacious comebacks by India in an away Test after the Adelaide 36! And, this should be the quickest knockout blow by India in Test cricket, barring a miracle.