"My strength is to land the ball in the right areas for a long period of time" - Mohammed Siraj

India speedster Mohammed Siraj made headlines as he had a spell to remember. After an embarrassing defeat in Centurion, India required a good show in Cape Town and Siraj dismantled the South African batting lineup with the figures of 6-15.  At the post-match press conference, Siraj opined on the importance of sticking to a plan and keeping things simple.

“On such pitches when there is so much swing and the pitch is misbehaving, bowlers tend to be greedy and try too many things,” said Siraj. “I think it’s important to stick to a plan and hit a certain area. If you try too much, you will put yourself and the team under pressure. On this pitch. it’s crucial to have bowling partnerships as sometimes, runs can be leaked while trying to get wickets. My mindset was to give a strong performance for the team and correct the shortcomings from the last Test. I realised what mistakes I had made and got it right today, and got the success. My strength is to land the ball in the right areas for a long period of time but I wasn’t able to do that in the last game. Today, I focused on my strengths and got the rewards. So I’m really happy.”

However, Mohammed Siraj’s spell was totally different from his off-colour outing at Centurion where he struggled for consistency and rhythm. The speedster was honest in his self-assessment and shared how he turned things around between the two Tests. He also praised the entire bowling unit on a day when they picked up 13 wickets in just 40.2 overs as well. Like Siraj, the pace attack from South Africa also did well.

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“The discussion was to correct our mistakes as a bowling unit from last game. We focused on having more bowling partnerships and also planned on bowling more maidens. We didn’t bowl many maidens in the last Test and today we were able to build pressure as we bowled more maidens. We built pressure and hence got success,” Mohammed Siraj again shared. “After playing so many years of domestic cricket, you get an idea of what areas to hit consistently on such pitches. When you go overseas and with so much swing available, it’s about consistently hitting a probing spot more often than not.”

“It’s important for fast bowlers to have aggression” – Mohammed Siraj

Siraj celebrates his five-wicket haul 🖐️ @StarSportsIndia

Tune in to #SAvIND 2nd Test LIVE NOW | Star Sports Network #Cricket pic.twitter.com/HMq19NelC9

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 3, 2024

However, his famous Cristiano Ronaldo celebration made headlines. When talked about his antics, Siraj shared how critical aggression is to a fast bowler, especially in Test cricket. 

“Emotions are a different thing. It’s important for fast bowlers to have aggression. Without aggression, it’s difficult for fast bowlers to get wickets in Test cricket. When you get hit for a boundary, you should be like ‘How did he hit me for a four, I’ll put him in his place!’, that should be the mindset.”

With 23 wickets falling in a single day from both sides, there were questions on the nature of the surface and its quality. However, Siraj chose not to play a stroke on this query.

“I can only say that I’d want to just focus on my game and my team. These things are for the match referee to decide. For me, it’s about bowling in the right areas and exploiting the surface. I don’t think anyone could have expected that and we obviously didn’t. But such things happen in cricket. With the good, the bad also come. They were bowled out for 55, we had a good start and a good partnership, so a collapse was bound to come,” Mohammed Siraj concluded.