A leading man facing unprecedented pressure off the field, a coach who wants to kickstart his good boy image by stripping him, and a flamboyant fast bowler ready to fire up the attack against a dog-led opposition ready for tough competitions. ready for. conversation at home. India’s tour of South Africa set to become stage for wider narrative
Neil D’Costa recalls the honor buried in Marnus Labuschagne’s voice earlier this year. What was Labuschagne talking about, who averages over 60 in Test cricket? mohammed siraji To his personal batting coach D’Costa. “He hangs it up and suddenly grabs his line. Be careful with this guy”.
He would get out of Siraj in a leg-side trap in Melbourne, Siraj’s first Test in that series, but his own words would live on in the second innings of the final Test in Brisbane. With the chain on the side, Siraj would hang it up and get it to hold its line. Labuschagne will be squared, and will slip. D’Costa laughs at the memory, saying, “He didn’t listen to his advice! It was a very good ball though.” Actually.
At the start of the year, at first glance, a thought bubbled up: that Siraj could throw these ‘awesome balls’ only occasionally. Until then-bowling coach Bharat Arun hastily instigated someone to reconsider that summary. “Yeah, but also no, Pa. Watch his full spell carefully. For a boy in his first year, he has the skill of making a spell. Sone pecha keppen (he will hear what you tell him), and retell it : Will present but he keeps thinking and works hard,” Arun told this newspaper. “Balls like this are very important because they have the ability to go beyond the surface and the conditions to prepare them. The batsman cannot rest, which means there is always a hesitation in the back of his mind as the spell keeps developing. (Jasprit) Bumrah has that effect.”
a few months later, in England, Arun will give a new toy to Siraj. He’ll not only engulf them, but start to wreak havoc with this new attraction—the scramble-seam ball. At the top of the slope at Lord’s, it will be crossed, and then cut by the left hand. Moeen Ali This time the swing was about to swing, and as Ravichandran Ashwin Will say on his YouTube channel, for a while only two players were in action: Siraj and Rishabh PantThe wicketkeeper, in Ashwin’s phrases as a “fast off-break”, continued to cut through the left-hander. “How is he able to use the slope so effectively? Not a single ball hit the seam,” wonders Ashwin.
Arun had told him about the scramble-seam ball to take advantage of Lord’s slope and Siraj took it and ran away like a child. equally excited Sachin Tendulkar It was moved enough for a video explainer to tweet about it. Tendulkar first gave a demo of back-spin Siraj, his fingers running down the seam when he wanted the ball to swing. Then, Tendulkar shows how Siraj snaps his fingers for the in-cutter to move the shape of the ball and sends it sloping towards the batsmen. The admiration in Tendulkar’s eyes tells a story of its own.
Siraj SA. Why would I get hit?
Another curious pair of eyes is eyeing Siraj this year. L Balaji, the former India bowler and bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings, who once bewildered Inzamam-ul-Haq with a mad bender who twisted from one leg to the other, is impressed by Siraj’s continued development.
And Balaji reveals the most important element in Siraj which can make him a very dangerous bowler in South African conditions. His open-chested movement.
Balaji warms up, “All these open-chested bowlers, who bring the ball back in and straighten the pitch, have had the most success in South Africa.”
Pictures of bowlers like Allan Donald, Makhaya Natini are thrown in the mind. Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and in the past a host of local bowlers, or even non-South Africans such as Javagal Srinath.
“The angle that comes naturally (from the release point) towards off and middle, the guys I have seen have had the biggest success. He plays batsmen most of the time. Side-on right-handers have the angle that allows batsmen to release the ball more easily. It’s not a lot of wind speed that works in South Africa, but the pitch always helps for open-chested bowlers – because of their angle, they create the illusion of the ball coming off and towards middle, And those who can do it straight from there to do maximum damage,” says Balaji.
“With open-chested bowlers, even when they straighten the ball, the batsmen almost open up. Much more so than a similar straightener from a side-on bowler. The angle of open chest bowlers like Bumrah and Siraj causes the ball to come in and they are committed to play. Then that straightening, or even the ball that does not come in that much, bothers them. They test both sides of the bat a lot.
The nature of bounce and the speed of the ball also play a role in such a scenario. “In South Africa, it is not a quick bounce, but a tennis-ball bounce, which means the batsmen need to keep adjusting because the level and pace of bounce are not always the same. Once you get them to line play, minute deviations or extra bounce can do the trick when strumming. Short deliveries from open-chested bowlers are also more effective against right-arm bowlers because of the speed and angle,” says Balaji. “So I think Siraj will be successful there.”
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Dive Deep into the Art of Siraj
Something always seems to be cooking when Siraj is on, regardless of the age of the ball or the nature of the pitch or atmospheric conditions. Suddenly, the pace of the seam, the tired ball seems to have signs of life and the tiring pitch, and if nothing happens, from run-up to follow-through, his frantic energy suggests something is happening. .
There is no clear blueprint that a batsman, used to more traditional bowlers, can crack. Look at the bowling hand. Load-ups are different. Sometimes, as soon as he gathers, he almost touches the right shoulder. Sometimes, he just stops it next to the face. He can move the hand holding the ball sideways to his left eye and release. And that ball can stun right-handed batsmen by leaning away. In fact, the dream ball that used to crack Prithvi ShawIn the Indian Premier League, Labuschagne’s delivery from off-stump goes straight, hand goes to go to Siraj’s face before release.
The bowling arm may be all crooked, bent at an angle, above the elbow. It hangs almost there, bio-mechanically loose, to release the ball from awkward angles.
The non-bowling hand can also have a life of its own. He can wide a touch when he wants the ball to angle inward. When he wants to straighten the ball, he can be a little tough. And sometimes, it can do one thing, and the ball another. E.g. he may have the shiny side on the outside for the in-cutter, but be on the inside and still try the same ball.
Even the frantic run-up is silly. A few hops in the beginning kickstart the frenzy. Siraj can then run in all cross-legged, such that both feet want to run on the same thin straight line, not an adjacent sprint. He can even tilt his body almost to his left as he is running, he is moving more than ever before.
Anyone can pick any of their dismissals and do wonders. Remember Steve Smith One? off course not Sreesanth Sniffing Jacques Kallis, but almost. It kicked off full length and pinged Smith’s gloves. Or the knockout of Jos Buttler with the old ball. That angled front-arm is released again and the ball straightens to kiss the edge.
The front-on release puts the batsmen in line for play. Balaji corrects, “not to attract or entice but to compel them to play.” “That’s the main difference. A side-on bowler has to use his skills to lure and lure. These open-chested ones with release angled points tend to force them. Because if you don’t do that and the ball angles. If you keep coming in with, you will lose your stump or go lbw.
“From that angle, if the ball is going straight, it’s really almost leg-cutter. When a side-on man does this, the ball often doesn’t hit the bat. Not with Siraj or Bumrah.”
So, he is not wasting most of his deliveries. Unlike most others, the batsman cannot rest and can only look out for a strangely behaved delivery. Even against a staple ball, one that’s coming in can’t be sure how much it will go in. LBW and Nick are always hovering. This batsman can cut more LBW than he thinks. And when it doesn’t and the batsmen are covering for the line, he can get the edge. Remember Cameron Green and Siraj ending him? Forever wary of lbw, he kept pushing. And then put the straightener to the side.
left is right
Left-handed batsmen have not been spared either. David Warner Trying to push carefully inside the line of the ball starting from middle and leg in Brisbane. But he was so full that he could take a piece of the outer edge. In comparison, the England bowlers were a bit shorter and their more traditional release points successfully pushed Warner over the line. Moeen and Sam Billings have also been tipped off on anglers. Dean Elgar’s job would be top-notch. If he survives Bumrah, he will have Siraj to face.
“In South Africa, you don’t want the batsmen to go away easily. Not much swing. The line of the fifth stump is pretty much useless to quality batsmen as they can leave you all day long if they want to, or drive or punch if they make a mistake at length. You want them to play with that inner inclination,” says Balaji.
Another commendable feature is that Siraj can hit full length with ease whenever he wants. The action doesn’t go away.
“If you have a back-leg release, that’s good. By this I mean that if the action is fully completed, then the load you have collected is properly spread,” explains Balaji.
“you’ve seen Zaheer Khan, right?” But he had neither a frantic run-up nor a visible follow-up. He would almost walk away from the crime scene.
“You know why? That back-leg release. He could have ended the action completely. There was no break in his follow-through. From the crease, your back and front leg your action in your follow-through How it holds is the key to finishing your action. Some put so much pressure on the front foot at the time of release that they had to scramble after the follow-through to finish it.”
Like Ishant Sharma, “Zaheer didn’t need to do that. Siraj also has it. He has more follow-through, but that’s because of his high-energy run-up and the energy he has. The action in itself is not needed at all. He has it all covered by the time the ball is released. The action ends brilliantly. That’s why his line and length are so good and he can change them easily. Like Zaheer. For this you need a strong body. This is another reason why I think Siraj can last a long time despite all his restless energy.”
Everything is ripe for Siraj to be successful in South Africa. “He can surprise you in any spell of the day,” the coach recalled Labuschagne telling him. An inexperienced South African batting line-up would do well to remember this. If they let go of their defence, the man from Hyderabad, who harassed Arun for a few years about coming to the Indian team, will take them down.
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