Mohammed Siraj is pantomime villain… and India's most willing workhorse

Times

18 hours ago

If there was going to be any argy-bargy between England and India in this series — and, given the stakes, that was always likely — then Mohammed Siraj was almost bound to be involved. He is someone who thrives on competition and bowls better when sparks are flying.
India took the field on Sunday still incensed at England's time-wasting the previous evening, and it was Siraj who led the charge. In his second over, he nipped one back into Zak Crawley's pad; India reviewed, but it was sliding down.
In his next over, he resumed a duel with Ben Duckett that had run since the final day in the first Test at Headingley, when Siraj was infuriated by Duckett's good fortune en route to a match-winning 149. Siraj had him playing and missing, edging near to the slips, and dropped on 97 in the deep in Leeds. At one point he went down the pitch and stared intently at his diminutive adversary, while Crawley stood by smirking.
This time Duckett's luck was out. He got away with a cheeky scoop for four, but moments later cramped himself for room attempting a pull and cuffed a simple catch to mid-on. Siraj, fully pumped, closed in and shouted into Duckett's face, and the opener, looking dazed by his error, started heading towards the pavilion. Siraj seemed happy enough to let his shoulder collide with Duckett's as they passed, an act that led to the umpires speaking to him before play continued.
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The match referee may, or may not, be interested in the incident. There is a lot of pantomime in what Siraj gets up to. On Saturday night, shortly after the India players had their say about Crawley's time-wasting, Siraj and Duckett could be seen walking off together in close proximity. They weren't going at it hammer-and-tongs; on the contrary, they exchanged friendly pats on the back.
The other thing about Siraj is that his grasp of the English language is so poor that his conversations with opposing batsmen and umpires are something of a mystery. He certainly won't understand what they are saying, and they probably cannot fathom what he is spouting either. Anything other than him venting his spleen is lost in translation.
There is, though, more to him than huff and puff. Later in his seven-over spell, he got a ball to cut back into Ollie Pope's pads and convinced his team-mates that it was worth a review, and was proved right. It was the first lbw of the match. He nearly repeated the trick later, too, but his demand for a review against Joe Root transpired to be umpire's call on leg stump.
All series, one of Siraj's best weapons has been the ball that darts back into the right-hander. Jasprit Bumrah naturally attracts most attention for the originality of his style and sophistication of his method, but Siraj is his side's leading wicket-taker in this series with 13 and he has comfortably got through the most work, uncomplainingly picking up the overs that Bumrah cannot bowl because his workloads must be carefully managed.
At the end of last winter's series in Australia, when Bumrah broke down in Sydney, Siraj put in 11 overs straight either side of lunch as he strove to stave off defeat. He is India's most willing workhorse and the one who sends out the message that, however tough the task, he is willing and able.
With Bumrah sitting out the previous Test at Edgbaston, Siraj was the first bowler to put India in the ascendancy in that match, with Crawley's wicket late on the second day, and those of Root and Ben Stokes with successive deliveries the next morning. The ball to the England captain was a ripper.
His determination and resilience was instilled at any early age. Growing up in Hyderabad in modest circumstances, his father, who was an auto-rickshaw driver, provided for his sons as best he could and bought them the cricket equipment they needed.
Siraj did not bowl with a hard ball until he was 20, but within a year was making his Ranji Trophy debut. Within another 18 months he was playing in the Indian Premier League, his first deal enabling him to buy the family a new home.
Siraj's entry into Test cricket in Australia in 2020 was another formative experience. With the touring party still in Covid-19 quarantine after arrival, he learnt that his father had died of a lung condition, and he was persuaded by his mother and Ravi Shastri, the India head coach at the time, to stay with the team as he would have had to undergo another lengthy period of isolation were he to then attempt to rejoin the tour.
By the time of the Boxing Day Test, a string of injuries had propelled him into the side. He took five wickets in India's win in Melbourne and another six in their victory in Brisbane to seal a remarkable 2-1 win after being routed for 36 in the opener in Adelaide. He shed emotional tears for his father during the anthems in Sydney.
With this pulsating Lord's Test hanging in the balance, it may be that Siraj yet has a role to play with the bat if his side are to creep home. Even his most ardent supporters will hope not. He barely owns more Test runs (142) than he does Test wickets (113) and has reached double-figures on only three occasions in 53 innings. But if he does need to bat, he will give it everything, as he always does.