The mysterious story of an unplayable Mohammed in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah

Hindustan Times

4 days ago

As soon as he disturbed Harry Brook's stumps via the inside edge on Friday evening, Mohammed Siraj took off on a celebratory run that culminated in a perfect Cristiano Ronaldo post-goal pirouette. The exuberance of the Hyderabadi, an unabashed fan of the Portuguese superstar, stemmed not from becoming the leading wicket-taker this series, but for stepping up to the plate again in Jasprit Bumrah's absence to reignite India's hopes of sharing honours. India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of England's Harry Brook during the second day of the fifth Test(AP)
Within the team, he goes by jigra; his bag of skills is enormous and enviable, but even that pales in comparison with the size of his heart. In rain or shine, on pitches responsive and heart-breaking, he steams in ball after ball, over after enervating over, without a drop in intensity, without a frown or a furrowed brow. He shrugs off catches dropped as one of those things, he finds the energy around long spells to encourage the rest of his colleagues, he throws himself around on the field as if his very life depended on it. In so many ways, he is the engine room of the Indian side, alongside the effervescent, inimitable Rishabh Pant.
Friday's heroics were typically Siraj, India's knight in shining armour when Bumrah isn't around. The arresting magic of the ace from Gujarat eclipses everything else and Siraj is no exception, though Bumrah is the first to acknowledge Siraj's role in his unprecedented success. But when there is no Bumrah to fall back on, Siraj is a totally different beast, revelling in the responsibility of the lead pacer that he could soon become his on a near-permanent basis, given the unyielding roadblock Mohammed Shami's Test career seems to have run into.
Siraj loves attention, but he doesn't go looking for it. He loves a scrap because it lifts him, but he knows where to draw the line – for the most part, at least – because for all his aggression, he is without malice. There is a charming rustic simplicity about him, but he can be a complex puzzle to solve for batters because he keeps adding new tricks, such as the scrambled seam delivery that has now become one of his most potent wicket-taking options.
There are some who freeze when thrust into the hot seat. And then there are others who take pride in being the main man, the principal weapon of destruction. No prizes for guessing into which bracket Siraj falls.
A catalyst in Bumrah's absence
When he is bowling in tandem with Bumrah, Siraj automatically becomes the support cast, the foot soldier to the more vaunted general. It's a task -- the work horse, the stock bowler to Bumrah's shock value -- he performs uncomplainingly, Without the world's top-dog, Siraj fuses stock and shock to a nicety, tireless forays to the bowling crease fuelled by a discernible uptick in energy and adrenaline. This isn't mere hyperbole. In his 25 Tests alongside Bumrah, Siraj has taken 74 wickets at an average of 35 and a strike rate of 57.3. When he has been thrust into the exalted capacity of the spearhead, he has picked up 44 wickets in 16 games at 25.59, and his strike rate dips by two overs – he snaffles a scalp every 45.25 balls. It's inexplicable, anomalous almost, but it's quintessential Siraj and that's what his teammates love and adore about him.
Bumrah has reached a stage now where anything more than a five-over spell is an aberration. He gives it all in those five overs, but such is the need to manage his body that a sixth is fraught with risk. The lithe, athletic, tireless, spirited Siraj thinks nothing of backing up an eight-over spell with another of the same length with less than an hour's gap between the two. He doesn't believe he has the luxury of a long break between spells, and he can't just stand back and watch the action lazily from the outfield when he knows his team needs him.
India's desire for batting depth meant they could only play three specialist quicks at The Oval. Between them, Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna sent down all but two of the 51.2 overs England survived on Friday. Siraj backed up four expensive first-spell overs with an innings-breaking three for 35 from eight overs, and still had enough gas in the tank to round off his day with a final burst of 4.2-0-20-1. By the end of the England first innings, he had bowled 155.2 overs, comfortably the most by an Indian, for 18 wickets, the most for any bowler.
In Birmingham last month, when Bumrah was rested, Siraj catalysed India's victory with six for 70 in the first innings. An encore at The Oval might push him closer to stepping out of the giant Bumrah shadow, closer to keeping the spotlight trained on himself. That, really, is no more than what jigra deserves.