I took help from Dale Steyn during IPL for bowling out-swingers: Mohammed Siraj

India’s latest pace sensation Mohammed Siraj has hogged all the limelight after a dream debut for the country in whites in the second Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Siraj ended up with five wickets including two in the first innings and a three-wicket haul in the second.

The right-arm quick also started the third Test against Australia at SCG on a fine note as he managed to send back the hosts’ aggressive opening batsman David Warner to the pavilion early. Speaking about his performance in the purest format thus far, Mohammed Siraj stated that he worked really hard during the lockdown to swing the ball both ways.

The 26-year-old was always known for his ability to threaten the batsmen with his in-swingers but he surprised the opposition by acing the out-swinging ball too. Reflecting on how he developed outswingers, the Hyderabad pacer revealed that he took a lot of help from the veteran pacer Dale Steyn while both were playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2020.

“I worked really hard on bowling outswingers during lockdown just like I did for India A. As I didn’t know how to bowl it well, I even took help from Dale Steyn during IPL, and now I feel confident bowling them,” Mohammed Siraj stated in the virtual press conference at the end of day one of the SCG Test.

Dropping catches are part and parcel of the game, says Mohammed Siraj

The opening batsman Will Pucovski made his debut for Australia and did a decent job as he played a knock of 62 runs off 110 deliveries. Speaking about Will, the right-arm pacer asserted that they had plans against Pucovski but the wicket was very flat and didn’t have anything to offer to the bowlers.

“We knew that Pucovski had his issues against short-stuff as we saw in the warm-up game where he had got concussed. And today as well, we tried to bowl few bouncers here and there as he wasn’t leaving them instead trying to play them. But, the wicket was very flat, and the ball was coming on to bat easily, so we didn’t want to try a lot as it’s very easy to bat. The bouncers also didn’t get much aid from the pitch,” the 26-year-old explained.

Siraj had almost managed to pick the wicket of Will Pucovski in the first session of Day 1 but the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant failed to complete an easy catch and gave a lifeline to the batsman. While many are criticizing Pant for his keeping abilities, Siraj reckoned that he doesn’t focus much on the dropped catches.

“Dropping catches are part and parcel of the game, it’s frustrating when it happens but then we focus on next deliveries and move on quickly.” Mohammed Siraj concluded.