“A big heart”, “aggressive mindset” and other such compliments from the team’s bowling coach might help a bowler feel at ease going into a gruelling series. Those words that Morne Morkel said about Mohammed Siraj should make the pacer feel much better with the firstTest against Australia in Perth beginning in a couple of days’ time.
But deep down, the Team India bowling coach knows well that Siraj hasn’t been going through a good phase lately. With Mohammed Shami out of the initial phase of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, an in-form Siraj was what India’s pace attack required the most to take the pressure off spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
In India’s ongoing Test season, Siraj, in four games, has bowled 72.1 overs in seven innings and picked up only six wickets. Yes, he hasn’t bowled many overs of late in home conditions which were far from pace-friendly. But the worrying part has been his lack of penetration on quite a few occasions, as seen in India’s forgettable series against New Zealand.
However, for a bowler who has all his five-wicket hauls so far in overseas Tests, one cannot just keep him out. Siraj’s three fifers so far in Test cricket have all come on foreign soil (in Australia, West Indies and South Africa).
According to some in the Indian cricketing fraternity, Siraj is “struggling with his pace” at present. But since he usually bowls the length that’s “a little on the shorter side and quite ideal for overseas conditions”, he cannot be written off because of a lean patch.
Besides, on the current tour Down Under, a much more experienced Siraj will be taking the field than theone who made his Test debut in the 2020 Boxing Day Testin Melbourne.
“It’s not Siraj’s first visit to Australia that he’ll feel the nerves. For him, it should be just about working on himself, saying, ‘Okay, I need to prepare for the five-Test series. So, what do I need to do? Am I ticking the right boxes every nets session or doing the same thing every day? Because that isn’t working for me.’
“But yeah, he’s a tough guy. Sometimes you just need to back a player, maybe just have a chat with him... Those kinds of stuff... Keep the atmosphere a little light for him to try and ease the pressure,” former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey told The Telegraph on Tuesday.
Fuller length
Back-of-a-length deliveries and hitting the good-length spot have yielded Siraj success abroad. Mhambrey, though, believes focusing on the length that’s a shade on the fullerside is also one option Siraj can avail of against the Australian batsmen.
“Sometimes, it’s not a bad idea to just go slightly fuller. You can maybe get driven a little bit, but if you keep it slightly fuller, there’s also a possibility of the batsman edging it.
“It’s still a variable, though. And I think the bowler has to plan the length session-wise as well as batsman-wise,” Mhambrey explained.
Practise to be perfect
Rhythm will be pivotal for Siraj in the coming series and that’s what he should be looking to regain. “Bowling is all about rhythm and rhythm is all about the more you bowl, the better you become.
“From outside, people can tell you, ‘Do this, do that.’ But eventually, you need to look back and see what works for you and understand if you need to just go back and do focus on your basics,” Mhambrey stated.
“Australia is a tougher venue to play. It will offer you bounce, but if you err a lot in your line and length, you’ll be punished. So, I think Siraj has to go ahead at the nets and ask himself, ‘Am I feeling good? Is my rhythm there?’
“If my thinking matches my outcome in every ball I bowl at the nets, then I know I’m hitting that length which I want to hit. It also becomes easier for me then to control a game,” the former bowling coach analysed.
