After rediscovering the rhythm, Siraj again in the chant

After rediscovering the rhythm, Siraj again in the chant

There were two parts to Royal Challengers Bengaluru's woes in the first quarter of IPL 2024, and Faf du Plessis was brutally blunt after the defeat at the Wankhede Stadium, putting both of those cards on the table. The RCB skipper said his team did not score enough runs to compensate for the impotence of the bowling, especially in the PowerPlay.

When the team returned for their home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad after their relegation to Mumbai, Mohammed Siraj was rested. The downtime amid a relentless schedule was auspicious for the tip of the fast bowling spearhead in the World Cup. Not only was he spared the ignominy of '287', but he was effectively given a 10-day break from the competition for one match, a difficult luxury for an Indian bowler in the IPL.

"It's tough, but tough for everybody. Everybody travels a lot [in the IPL]," RCB coach Adam Griffiths said of the gruelling tournament schedule. "It's just about monitoring and knowing when is the right time to bowl. Because you still have to bowl, practice and get better. But also be fresh, and ready to perform. I think Siraj has found a very good balance now. He knows his body very well, he knows what he needs to do to prepare and I've been with him for about five years I can tell when he's doing well and I can tell when he needs a break We're pretty good under his watch.

"He's like any other player when he's tired. It's very important to give him rest. It's as important as the training component. Sometimes even more important. That's why he's a pace bowler and his runs are so important. That's why he wants he run fresh and hard, but to find the optimal speed for the run to make sure it goes very well.

When he executed a well-thought-out full-length tactic against Sunil Narine, there was a spark of a comeback in Kolkata. More progress followed in Hyderabad where Siraj managed just 20 runs in his four overs. In Ahmedabad, he unleashed a near-perfect yorker to rob the marauding Shahrukh Khan. RCB still need Siraj, the PowerPlay exponent. Before Saturday night's second leg against Gujarat Titans, Sirad had taken just two wickets for 171 runs from 17 PowerPlay overs with an economy of 10.05, a far cry from his 10 wickets with an extraordinary 5.93 ER last season.

As it turned out, Siraj was close to missing another home game after feeling the effects of an illness on the morning of the game. But he decided to plough on and the Chinnaswamy Stadium gave him a warm welcome after a gap of 20 days. The rain on the eve of the match seemed to bring life back to the pitch and the ball came off the pitch and also went sideways. Siraj was excellent at pulling back his length, which Mike Hesson revealed in an interview with Cricbuuzz was instrumental in his stellar season in 2023. Siraj allowed him to take on both Virdhiman Sahu and Shubman Gill after two PowerPlay overs, conceding just nine runs.

"Felt great today because this new ball is my strength," exclaimed Siraj. Last year while playing cricket I played a good innings with the new ball. My performance was very good in this inning. I took a lot of wickets in my innings. Today's performance reminded me of last year. I played red-ball cricket for a long time and then suddenly there was a change to the white ball. which was not easy, I lacked rhythm at first but as I went on to train, the rhythm recovered.

One of the adjustments, bowling coach Griffiths revealed, was a collective shift as a group to bowl straight lines and force batsmen to take aggressive options. Siraj's sacking of Gill was an illustrative case. In the pre-match program, Star Sports revealed the sobering statistic of the Titans skipper's average dropping from 58.7 against the no-stump balls to a paltry 17.2 against the innings. Siraj used an inside angle to force Gayle to aim for the leg-side boundary. But the ball was straight enough. Which continued to gain considerable advantage. When PowerPlay was won, the result seemed a foregone conclusion.

He is the leader of our group and a very business bowler. He is especially our Indian fast bowler and is considered among our international boys. He's played a lot for India in the last few years and he's done very, very well. well... he's not playing just bowling but also his aggression, his body language, his wickets is a very important parts of what we try to do with good pace. Aggressiveness is so important for us," Griffiths said.