Important to bowl in right areas, says Siraj

“The track on the first day was very helpful for bowling but it has become very slow today. Not much is happening and there wasn’t much swing on offer. The key is to remain patient and hit one area consistently,” Siraj said after the day’s play. His senior pace bowling partner Jasprit Bumrah told him that the only way to get wickets on a flat deck is to build pressure with a lot of dot balls. 

“Bumrah told me not to try anything different. Bowl in one area and create pressure with dot balls and there should be equal focus on each ball,” the 26-year-old Hyderabad pacer said, having already got three wickets in the match. Siraj’s elevation as a Test bowler has happened in the wake of some great performances for Hyderabad and India A. “During lockdown, I had worked very hard on my fitness and that’s paying off well. I did well for India A in red ball format and that really helped and after my good performance with the white ball in this year’s IPL, I got confidence that I can do well for senior team also and hopefully, I will keep up the good work in future too,” he said. What helped Siraj perform impressively with the red kookaburra is his experience of playing for A team in New Zealand earlier this year. 

“The SG seam is more pronounced and the kookaburra seam flattens quickly like it has happened now. I bowled well in New Zealand during A tour and that experience helped me a lot,” he added. 

He is indebted to Indian team’s bowling coach Bharath Arun, who was also his mentor when he first came up the ranks for the Hyderabad Ranji side. 

“I have always said about Arun sir’s contribution in my career. When he was Hyderabad coach, he would tell me, “The kind of quality you have, you can get any batsman out in world cricket. Same here before my Test debut, he gave me a lot of encouragement,” he said.