In an era where batters hone their skills against throwdown specialists and spinners are reduced to match-up equations, there is something uniquely simple and primal about fast-bowling. It is perhaps just the act of running in, ball in hand, with the sole objective of rattling the opposition that is so captivating.
In a censorious sport, fast bowling is a jolt of indiscretion. Its most revered practitioners are sometimes pariahs in the hallowed corridors of cricket and find comfort in their own company.
There is little deceit in the craft or jargon in its lexicon to stultify the uninitiated. It is not a preserve of the elite that needs the invocation of ‘acquired taste’ to achieve its fulfillment.
Mohammed Siraj might well have been running to the long-on boundary with ‘Chariots of Fire’ humming in his ears. With unbridled joy writ large and a smirk etched across his face, he was bounding in the direction opposite of what he is used to, but with no let-up in purpose and intensity. It was adrenaline pumping through his veins all right, and Virat Kohli, a trailblazer in a very different form of running in cricket, couldn’t stop laughing.
READ: Siraj picks 6 for 21 as India wins 8th Asia-Cup title
After beating Kusal Mendis for an entire over outside off, Siraj had taken three wickets in four balls in his second and was as close as you can get to breathing fire in the game of cricket. The sprint to the boundary was off the hat-trick ball and came off the blade of Dhananjaya de Silva, the first batter who felt leather willow off Siraj without losing his wicket. But he was gone next ball, feeling for the ball outside off and edging behind. Siraj had taken four wickets in an over to become the first Indian to achieve the feat.
As Jasprit Bumrah, for once not in the spotlight, bounded in, Siraj was having his limbs loosened up by the physio at the fine-leg boundary. It had been thrilling, exhilarating, but taxing.
But he was back right on cue and beat captain Dasun Shanaka off the first three deliveries of his following over before moving the ball away a tad to topple his off-stump. Siraj had had enough of batters perishing to poor shot selection, he was now taking matters into his own hands. He jumped up, did a volte face midair to complete his trademark ‘Siu’ celebration and mark the leveling of the fastest five-wicket haul.
India’s tormentor Dunith Wellalage was next in, and he pushed one down past the bowler. Siraj lunged full tilt at it unsuccessfully to stop the single; he wasn’t letting anything get away.
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After a couple of relatively quiet overs, where the bat met air and the ball the occasional edge, Siraj disturbed Mendis’ stumps by getting the ball to shape into him. Sri Lanka was seven down, and Siraj had six.
“Feels like a dream. Last time, I did the same against Sri Lanka in Trivandrum. Got four wickets early, couldn’t get the five-for. Realised you get what’s in your destiny. Did not try too much today. I have always looked for swing in white-ball cricket. Did not find much in the previous games. But today it was swinging, and I got more wickets with the outswinger. Wanted to make the batters drive,” Siraj said after his spell of six for 21, which saw Sri Lanka dismissed for 50 in the Asia Cup final, its second-lowest score in ODIs.
People remember the ‘Ball of the Century’ for a moment of brilliance and wizardry, but watch Wahab Riaz torment Shane Watson for a spell of sustained hostility. People will watch Siraj of September 17 vs Sri Lanka for his chillingly efficient demolition and the primeval bliss of running.
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