In India’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka, Mohammed Siraj demonstrated that he is ready to take on the responsibility of providing early breakthroughs in ODIs, an area where the Rohit Sharma-led side fell short a few months ago.
He took two wickets with the new ball in the first ODI at Guwahati, and one at Kolkata. But it was his four wickets with the new ball in the third ODI at Thiruvananthapuram that helped India to a record 317-run victory.
Siraj had the most wickets in the series, nine, with an economy rate of 4.05. Siraj had his worst season in the IPL, being completely predictable and being taken for runs by opposing batters. With the inswing gone and only the outswing in his hand, Siraj discovered the wobble-seam delivery, which is now his latest success tool.
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“The biggest advantage with the wobble seam is neither me nor the batter can guess how much the ball will nip back. Sometimes it will come back in; at other times, it will go straight. Whatever success I got, I got it through a wobble seam. It’s very effective and has proved to be successful for me and I trust it,” he said in the post-match press conference.
Siraj took out Kusal Mendis in Thiruvananthapuram with a wobble-seam ball that held its line and forced the batter to nick behind to the keeper. He also gave Dale Steyn credit for assisting him with the wobble-seam delivery.
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“I used to get natural inswing but I lost it. So I developed outswing and worked on the wobble seam delivery. It took a lot of time to be effective and for me to get confident about it. I practiced a lot in the nets and during the IPL, I got the confidence that I can bowl it. I also spoke to Dale Steyn during the IPL when I wasn’t getting good outswing, so wobble seam helped me then too.
“When I didn’t have a good IPL, I thought that I should also work on my white-ball skills. So I did that and when I got through a couple of good matches, I got the confidence. Now I have stopped thinking about performance, which I did previously and that has helped me. My focus is on executing every ball. Whether I get wickets or not is secondary; my lines and lengths should be consistent, which brings me satisfaction.”
“The way I hold the ball, it naturally outswings,” Siraj explained when asked how he executes the wobble-seam. When I bowl scrambled seam, I tilt it slightly towards fine leg and hit the deck hard. When I bowl the wobble ball, I don’t use a loopy delivery. It comes in handy when I’m hitting the deck hard.”
The ODIs against New Zealand begin on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, where Siraj lives and will play his first match for India. Siraj wants to keep up the good work with the new ball and wobble-seam, of course, with friends, coaches, and family in attendance.
“During this series, my plan was to swing the new ball and pick up early wickets of the opposition. It didn’t matter if I got hit for two-three fours, because if I can pick up a couple of wickets, it will push the opposition on the back foot.”
-IANS
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