It was in the last edition of the IPL that Mohammed Siraj felt the need to switch the ball right-handed again. With only an outswing left in his arsenal, he became more predictable in his bowling. That’s reflected in how they weathered their worst season in terms of economy and averages, taking home an unsatisfactory record of 6 most in season collections.
Fast forward to 2023 and Siraj’s career feels like an entirely different era. He is almost solely responsible for India’s resurgence with balls in PowerPlay overs, picking wickets every match with new balls. A lot of that can be attributed to his regained confidence and wobble his ball fine-tuning. This delivery formed the basis for his numbers of 32-4 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka.
After India’s record win at Thiruvananthapuram, Siraj said, “I used to have a natural swing-in, but I lost it, so I worked on developing my swing-out and giving it a wobble. ‘ said. “It took a lot of time to be effective and build confidence. I practiced a lot at the net and gained confidence during the IPL that I could throw it.” I also spoke with Dale Steyn, and my swing wasn’t working well, so the wobble stitch helped too. “When the IPL didn’t go well, I thought I should also work on my whiteball skills. So I did and after some good matches I gained confidence. Now I stopped thinking about performance. My focus is to take every ball. Whether or not I take a wicket is secondary, my lines and lengths must be consistent.
So how does he roll a wobble ball that compensates for his lack of inswingers? “The way you hold the ball is natural swinging. When bowling the scrambled seam, you lean slightly toward your skinny legs and actually hit the deck. When I’m bowling the wobble ball, I do crazy deliveries. I am not bowling.
“With wobble, neither me nor the hitters know where the ball is going. Sometimes it goes straight, sometimes it goes sideways. Whatever success you had, you got it with a wobbly seam. It’s been very effective, it’s proven to be a success for me, and I trust it.”
Siraj ended his three-match ODI winning streak against Sri Lanka with his nine wickets. Impressively, the series was played on his wickets batting very well.
“The series has gone very well. My plan was to pick wickets with new balls and put some pressure on the middle order. I tried to swing the ball, but I didn’t mind being hit at the limit,” Siraj said.
The only time Siraj failed to catch in the evening was his first five-wicket catch at the Whiteball International. To help him, Mohammed Shammi defeated the Stand Alone so he could exchange ends. Nothing compares to the final ball of his spell catching Kasun Rajitha on the back pad and lifting the referee’s finger only for DRS to put an end to it all.
The way Siraj is bowling this year if the World Cup is played at home, India could take four wickets from him. As captain Rohit Sharma said after the match, “All four wickets are his and the whistle will come”.