Lord's laudable, but gabba's special

Mohd Siraj during a promotional event at a city hotel yesterday. Pic/Sameer Markande

Speedster Mohammed Siraj, who led India's attack in the absence of seniors against Australia to win the Brisbane Test by three wickets in January 2021 and followed it up with an encouraging show in the English summer of that year, is eager to replicate his performances when India meet England at Birmingham to complete the 2021 Pataudi Trophy series next month.

‘I am trying to upgrade'

Siraj's 5-73 in the second innings at Brisbane played a huge role in India winning the Test and with it, the series 2-1 in the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah. "I am trying to upgrade and improve my bowling. I am working on the line and length I need to bowl to specific batsmen according to the behaviour of the wicket. The other aspect I am focusing on now is bowling long spells consistently," Siraj told mid-day on the sidelines of docu web-series, Bandon Mein Tha Dum's trailer launch on Wednesday.

The web-series is about how India outclassed the Australians on their home turf under Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy. Siraj, 28, who has claimed 36 wickets in 12 Tests so far, enjoyed his best performance of eight scalps (four in each innings) against England in the August 2021 Lord's Test, which India won by 151 runs. However, the Hyderabad-based bowler rated his Gabba show special. "It's a dream for every cricketer to perform well at Lord's, but my best performance came at the Gabba where I took a five-wicket haul. That performance came in the absence of seniors. Lord's show was good, but Gabba is a special memory for me."

Siraj was quarantined on that Australia tour when he learnt about the death of his father, Mohammed Ghouse. His morale was boosted by his mother, Shabana Begum. "I lost my dad before the start of the Australia series. That was such a tough time, but my mom told me that I have to play and perform to fulfil dad's dream. My mother's support was the biggest motivation for me to play well and help India win.

"I miss my dad a lot. He worked hard for all of us and it was his dream to see me playing and winning matches for the country. If he was there and watched me perform so well in Australia and England, he would be delighted," Siraj explained.

Credit to Rahane

Siraj gave credit to Rahane for boosting his confidence in his debut series. "Ajju bhai helped me a lot in that series. He was so calm and provided all the support and freedom to the bowlers. We had a young team as the senior players were injured. He was guiding us and providing specific plans on how to face situations. That made a huge difference."

Like Rahane, Siraj felt Rohit Sharma too is a bowler's captain, who will be leading India's Test team for the first time against England in July: "I played three-four limited overs series under Rohitbhai's captaincy. He is a very good captain for bowlers. There is good understanding between him and bowlers. Recently, I played under him in the Sri Lanka series and I enjoyed it. Rohit has a lot of experience. He has won five IPL titles for Mumbai Indians and I think he is a bowler's captain. He reads the bowlers' minds very well."

‘There are ups and downs'

Siraj claimed just nine wickets from 15 games for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the recently-concluded IPL and failed to find a place for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa. But he is confident of a comeback in the white-ball team soon. "Except a couple of matches, I didn't have a poor IPL. I was playing and performing in all three formats. There are ups and downs in everyone's life. As far as white-ball cricket is concerned, I will try to improve and work on bowling yorkers. It is just a matter of one good match. When I perform well in that game, it will give me confidence. I will make a comeback for the T20 World Cup [scheduled to be held in Australia in October this year]. My ultimate goal is to keep myself fit, dish out performances, play in all three formats and help India to win the World Cup," Siraj signed off.