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After a long time I saw a bowler so fast: Siraj's coach reveals how he kept him away from developing bad habits
Siraj overcame all the doubts and delivered when he was handed the chance by Team India management to make his mark.
Mohammed Siraj’s journey to the top has been an inspiring one. The Hyderabad bowler had to grind hard to make it to the international stage. His initial performance in limited-overs cricket was criticised by critics. But Siraj overcame all the doubts and delivered when he was handed the chance by Team India management to make his mark.
He was dangerous during the Australia tour as he regularly troubled the Aussie batsmen with his nagging line. During the Brisbane Test, Siraj put in an impressive performance as he returned with figures of 5/73 in the second innings. Even in the Test series against England, Siraj impressed everyone with the ball in hand.
However, former Hyderabad swing bowler P Jyothi Prasad revealed that he did not want Siraj to develop ‘the bad habit of chucking’ when he was the chairman of the Hyderabad selection committee. Siraj was regularly competing in tennis ball tournaments in the old Hyderabad city.
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“Siraj was playing a lot of local matches, which were all betting matches that they played in the old city. When he got selected for the state youth side (under-23), I told him to stop those tennis ball matches. The reason being that I have seen a lot of bowlers bowling there chucking in their attempt to bowl faster. I did not want Siraj to develop the bad habits of chucking,” Prasad told Sportskeeda.
“When I was the chairman of the Hyderabad selection committee, I used to watch local matches a lot. Siraj was playing for Charminar CC against Railways in a local match and took a lot of wickets. I saw him bowl quick. It was after a long time that I was seeing a bowler in Hyderabad bowling so fast. I thought this boy had some stuff,” the 68-year-old Prasad said.
