CHENNAI: DURING last year's Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore did a behind-the-scenes interview with Mohammed Siraj. Titled 'The Mohammed Siraj you didn't know' (there on YouTube), it's a compelling watch. Some of the best bits of the video is when he talks about the influence of Bharathi Arun (India's bowling coach) in his life.
"Bharathi Arun sir came into my life and things changed so much," he says. "That man used to give me so much confidence that there is no limit to that. He used to back me a lot. He is a guardian angel to me."
They do go back a few years. Siraj came into the national consciousness excelling for Hyderabad, while Arun was coach there. In 2018, Arun, who had by then moved to the national team, had convinced the management to call him up for a Test series against West Indies. Speaking on the eve of the second Test in Hyderabad, Arun made one telling remark. "He's (Siraj) a quick learner," he informed the scribes.
Leading the attack in just his third Test, Siraj showed why Arun made that observation about him. Needing quick runs, Australia had taken the early initiative on Monday. Eight of their first 10 scoring shots were boundaries, four of those off coming off Siraj. On a pitch offering assistance, he went back to basics and trusted his instincts. He trusted the pitch's natural fourth day variation and soon started getting his rewards. The extra bounce off good length areas snared both Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Matthew Wade was removed for nought. He returned late in the day to scalp Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, preventing the tail from wagging.
That he cherished Smith's wicket the most is a reflection of how he used the pitch. "In the whole series, I feel it would be Smith's wicket, there was extra bounce from the area where I thought I will get it," he said after the day's play. "He is the best batsmen in the world and it gave me a lot of confidence."
When India needed, Siraj delivered. Even if his maiden fifer will attract eyeballs, the 26-year-old has excelled since making his Test bow less than a month ago. In a side filled with bowling heroes, he will come back to India as the bowler with most wickets for India (13) from the Test series. Considering he was the sixth choice Indian pacer when the tour began, his meteoric rise — from tennis ball cricket less than nine years ago to leading the pace attack of the national team in Australia — still feels like a dream.
In a series filled with stories of fighting odds and jumping over obstacles, it's perhaps fitting that Siraj has his own special place. When he left home to serve a hard quarantine in the desert before the IPL, he found it extremely hard because of his father's (Ghous) ill-health. He used to disconnect calls because he himself would start crying, he says in the same interview with RCB.
After his father, Ghous, passed away while Siraj was serving hard quarantine in Sydney before the start of the ODI leg of the series in November, the Hyderabadi had to make a decision. Stay. Or go. It was no surprise that Arun got in touch with him. "This could be your series," he told his young charge.
"Nobody is going to force you to stay back. If you choose to stay back, you won't regret it. You will get your chance."
He stayed. He got his chance. You know the rest.