Indian Premier League

NEW DELHI: Mohammed Siraj‘s turn-around has been instrumental in Royal Challengers Bengaluru‘s late-inning comeback in this IPL, and the pacer’s impressive form may have also helped calm Indian nerves ahead of the T20 World Cup next month.IPL ORANGE CAP | IPL PURPLE CAP | IPL POINTS TABLEIn the most recent manifestation of his transformation, Siraj destroyed the Gujarat Titans with a two-wicket burst in the Power Play, taking the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill.Siraj took an incredible 2-0-9-2 at that point, and as he is expected to share the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah in the ICC final, it is also a huge boost for the national side.After working with Siraj for the past five years, assistant coach Adam Griffith of the RCB attributed that change to him “swinging the ball again.”“He’s the leader of our group. He’s played a lot for India in the last few years and has done really well. It’s not just him bowling well. It’s his aggression, his body language, him taking the batters on to try and get wickets is such an important part of what we’re trying to do.“Having him up and going, swinging the ball again, bowling with good pace, and being aggressive is so important to us,” said Griffith in the post-match press meet in Bengaluru on Saturday after RCB defeated GT by four wickets. The bowling performance of the Royal Challengers, with a combined economy rate of 10.28 and 45 wickets, was the lowest in the IPL season.As the leader, it was Siraj’s job to sort of galvanize the others, and he raised his hand.Maybe the nine days off he received between April 12 and April 20 helped him refocus and become more alert.The Sunrisers Hyderabad game in Bengaluru, where they amassed an IPL record 287 for three, was the one he missed in the meantime.Griffith outlined the reasoning behind allowing Siraj some free time.“He’s like any other player when they are fatigued. It’s very important to give them that break. That’s just as important as the training component, sometimes even more important.“He is a rhythm bowler – his run-up is so important to what he does. So, we want him fresh and running in hard,” he said. Siraj participated in four games against the Kolkata Knight Riders, SRH, and two against GT after his comeback from the break. In a high-scoring game against the Knight Riders, RCB lost by one run, but they won the other three.In those three matches, Siraj had figures of 4-0-20-0, 4-0-34-1 and 4-0-29-2.Griffith said Siraj has found a good balance between off-time and preparation.“He knows his body really well. He knows what he needs to do to prepare and every now and then we might need to give him a little bit of a push in that direction.“I’ve been with him now for five or so years, so I can tell when he’s going well and when he needs a rest,” he added.This version of Siraj was a throwback to IPL 2023 when he picked up 19 wickets and 10 of them were in the Power Play.The energy of Siraj seemed to have percolated to other bowlers too as the young Yash Dayal dished out a frugal and productive spell upfront – 4-0-21-2.It meant that the Titans were restricted to the lowest Power Play score of this IPL season – 23/3.Griffith said the RCB bowlers have collectively managed to hit a better line as they notched up three wins on the bounce.“We’ve swung the ball all tournament upfront. We talked about bowling a lot straighter and attacking the stumps as much as we can to challenge the batters’ defence and make them play aggressive shots if they want to come at us.“That’s the challenge for them to do and the boys put them exactly where we wanted them (against GT),” he explained.(With PTI inputs)