CHENNAI: When Akash Deep replaced Mohammed Siraj in the playing XI for the Pune Test against New Zealand, it all indicated form. Yes, the Indian team has been prone to rotating their fast bowlers at home — they did the same during the England series earlier this year — but here, it felt like there is more to it.
In the eight matches he played this year, Siraj had accounted for 19 wickets at an average of 29.47, which from the outset might not look as bad. But take away the one Cape Town Test, Siraj had just 12 scalps to show in 14 innings at home. The home average this year was 42.83. The only good thing about it is that it is better than his home Test average last year — 73.
Clearly, something is not going right for Siraj. Off the 14 innings at home, he has gone wicketless in nine of them. It is not just that he has gone wicketless — when India are playing at home spinners are expected to take care of the workload more often than not — but the fact that Siraj's only wicket with the new ball at home this year came in Chennai. In every other inning, he had not been able to make an impact upfront. It is easy to pinpoint the numbers on form, but there seems to be an underlying factor. India, while rotating the bowlers in the longest format as much as they can, seems to have bowled Siraj into the ground over the last couple of years.
Since Siraj broke into the Indian team till the postponed one-off Test against England in July 2022, he had played 13 red-ball matches and had 40 wickets to show at 30.77. Now, the months that followed would mark an important phase in Indian cricket — Jasprit Bumrah's injury. Bumrah's last international match before injury came on September 26, 2022 was against Australia. Till that point, Siraj had played ten ODIs and five T20Is for India. However, having been Bumrah's lieutenant with the new ball, Siraj was naturally thrust with the extra responsibility in his absence.
In the months to come, he would become a regular in both white-ball formats while also playing Test cricket. So much so that from the time Bumrah went out of action, Siraj's name became the most consistent one in the team sheet across formats. Since September 26, 2022 till the second Test against New Zealand in Pune, no frontline Indian pacer has played as much cricket as Siraj has. In this period, he has played 62 matches across formats — 17 Tests, 34 ODIs and 11 T20Is — with the next name on the list being Arshdeep Singh with 53 appearances.
Now, here is the kicker. All of Arshdeep's outings were in limited overs. The left-arm pacer is yet to play a Test. The next pacer who has appeared for India in the longest format since Bumrah's layoff began is Jasprit himself. And he has played only 37 games across formats. Mohammed Shami played 29 in this period, and Mukesh Kumar 26. Barring Bumrah (10) and Siraj (17), no Indian pacer has touched double digits in Test appearances over the last two years. The closest is Umesh Yadav with five.
For all the talk about transition in batting, India has been going through one in bowling as well. And in this process, it seems like Siraj's workload has gone under the radar. Now, it has to be mentioned that Siraj's record in ODIs in the last couple of years has been nothing short of remarkable and one can see why India wants him on the field every time. However, it seems to have affected his red-ball — even IPL to an extent as he looked like a shadow of himself in 2024 — performance.
Dropped for form or rested for workload, one can only hope that the break from action does some good for Siraj. Even if he doesn't feature in the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai this week, he will rest and comes back as the bowler he was in 2021. After all, he will be crucial in India's attempt to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.