One of the main positives for Faf du Plessis’ team throughout the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s otherwise hot-and-cold season has been their powerplay bowling. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have staged a comeback in 2023, becoming the fiercest bowling team with the new ball. This comes after the 2022 season, when they had given up 8.46 runs per over and picked up a wicket every 30 balls, both the poorest stats in that edition. They have picked up 22 wickets in their first nine games, all at the top rates this season (14.7 strike rate, 7.3 economy). Mohammed Siraj, who has also made a journey back, has been the driving force behind RCB’s improved powerplay statistics.
Siraj was given the new-ball duty when he was retained for the 2022 season before the big auction, a notable decision that was applauded by many. Siraj struggled during the powerplay due to the huge amount of faith he was carrying, and RCB even benched him for a game. Siraj’s economy rate of 10.23 was the lowest of the 14 bowlers who bowled at least 20 overs with the new ball last season, and his strike rate of 37.20 was only marginally better than Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s (56).
Siraj’s turnaround
Siraj authored a magnificent turnaround in white-ball cricket, leaving all those long in the past and likely forgotten. He picked up 38 wickets at just 19 in the 20 one-day internationals (ODI) he played for India since June 2022, 24 of which were with the new ball at an economy rate of just 4.38. The utilization of jumbled seam, late moves, and stump-attacking have all contributed to Siraj’s success. The 29-year-old eventually achieved the stunning leap to the No. 1 bowler in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings in January of this year. Prior to that, Siraj was reinstated to the T20I team after taking six wickets in two games of the November New Zealand series for just five runs per over.
The outstanding performance continued into the IPL 2023 when he established himself as a top new-ball bowler. Eight of the 15 wickets he has taken this season in nine games came during the powerplay, where he is the only bowler among those who have bowled at least 60 balls during that bowling session to allow less than a run per delivery.
Former India fast bowler RP Singh, an IPL expert, told JioCinema that Siraj has benefited much from improving both his physical condition and the technical aspects of his bowling.
“I have been following Siraj for a long time now. When he joined the Indian team, his graph was really high, and then slowly it started falling. But it is good to see that he has worked on a lot of things this time, fitness being a major point. Now if you look at the technical bit, he has worked a lot on his wrist position and follow through for which he is getting the ball top bounce better and is also bowling stump-to-stump,” he told Hindustan Times.
“Of course, he can be a replacement for Bumrah. In fact, I feel, if his graph continues to increase he can be the next Mohammed Shami,” he said.
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