Ahmedabad: If Mohammed Siraj hadn’t cleaned up England at The Oval on Day 5 for India’s six-run win, we may well have been alluding to the Anderson-Tendulkar series as being one of missed opportunities and unrealized possibilities for the new-look Indian team. His heart, his grit, his junoon powered the team to a memorable win.
That is why it is perhaps only fair that the Hyderabadi pacer was offered some benevolence in his next outing. It came in the form of both favourable Day 1 bowling conditions at Ahmedabad and inept batting from West Indies. Still, the pacer had to cash in. And cash in he did with a masterclass in accuracy and skill to reaffirm his growing status as India’s go-to fast bowler.
It was Siraj who dented the confidence of the West Indies batters’ early by picking up three of the first four wickets to fall inside the first hour’s play. There was enough help on offer, plenty of bounce and movement in Ahmedabad, certainly more than what Siraj got on offer in the first four Tests of the UK tour. And Siraj capitalized. How? By bowling a full lenght for 88% of his deliveries. He also kept the balls in line with the stumps or in the proverbial corridor of uncertainty as per statistics available on Cricinfo.
In Tagenaraine Chanderpaul’s case, the first of Siraj’s victims, the left-hander tickled a rising ball down the leg side. In much the same way, he coaxed Alick Athanaze to play at a ball he shouldn’t have. The left-hander, seen as one of bright red-ball hopes in the Caribbean, looked to be settling in. He, too, lost the mental battle to Siraj’s relentlessness by looking to play the drive to one floated outside off. That it was bowled with a slight tweak in angle from around the wicket which helped the cause.
{{/usCountry}}In Tagenaraine Chanderpaul’s case, the first of Siraj’s victims, the left-hander tickled a rising ball down the leg side. In much the same way, he coaxed Alick Athanaze to play at a ball he shouldn’t have. The left-hander, seen as one of bright red-ball hopes in the Caribbean, looked to be settling in. He, too, lost the mental battle to Siraj’s relentlessness by looking to play the drive to one floated outside off. That it was bowled with a slight tweak in angle from around the wicket which helped the cause.
{{/usCountry}}But Siraj couldn’t have won the day without the scrambled seam. And why would he not utilize it to the fullest, after the success he found in England?
To most, Siraj’s dismissal of Roston Chase was the pick of his four. Delivered from a wider angle, it compelled the West Indies captain to play, caught the edge on the way to the keeper. But that, Siraj felt, was just a natural variation of the wobble seam.
He liked getting past Brandon King’s defenses the most. “Woh pyaari wicket thi (That was a sweet),” he said like an artisan who holds one of his works the most dearly. “What I had wanted to bowl in my mind, I was able to execute. The two previous balls had hit the pads and he had played attacking balls. So I thought of coming in from a wider angle.”
The scrambled seam ball made the movement so pronounced that King unwittingly shouldered arms and was cleaned up.
Three spells aggregating 14 overs saw Siraj finishing with 4/40 to keep the scacre spread of spectators entertained. An on-song Siraj against inexperienced West Indians may have been a no-contest, but as the 31year-old argued, “there are no free wickets on offer in Test cricket”.
Also, you have to earn your luck. And Siraj did more than that after his 185.3 overs of toil in England that included some marathon 8 over spells spread across ten innings.
Another feature of Siraj’s efforts in England was how he was able to rise up for the team in lead pacer Bumrah’s absence. Here, he had Bumrah as bowling partner. Bumrah playing at his Ranji home. Siraj at his IPL home. Together, they made India feel right at home too.
While Bumrah won the popular applause with his toe crushing yorkers towards the end, Siraj won the critical claim with his length bowling released with subtle change of seam positions, that makes red ball fast bowling such an exciting watch.