NEW DELHI: When a fast bowler’s own countrymen — whether captain, teammates or former cricketers in the same cricketing ecosystem — challenge their ego, it can be a deliberate or incidental act that spurs them to perform better.
Fast bowlers often have a fierce competitive streak. Challenges from their countrymen can push them to raise their game and prove their superiority. Facing criticism or challenges at home helps bowlers build the mental toughness required for the intense scrutiny and high-pressure situations of international cricket.
On Friday, legendary Sunil Gavaskar, delivering a harshly critical assessment, had called for the removal of Mohammed Siraj from the Indian squad.
With 13 wickets in seven innings and a lack of aggression with the new ball, Siraj, a key component in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series victory, had fallen short in the current series, adding to Jasprit Bumrah‘s workload.
According to Gavaskar, the right-arm quick should be informed that he is being dropped rather than rested.
“I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can’t beat around the bush.
“You need to be brutally upfront and say ‘look, your performance has not been up to scratch, and therefore you are being dropped.’ When you start talking about ‘rest,’ players get wrong ideas. They feel they don’t need to up their game,” Gavaskar had told Star Sports on Friday after the second day’s play.
With an average of 4.07 runs per over, Siraj led the unwelcome list of frontline pacers who have given the most runs in the series.
In the ongoing Boxing Day Test, Siraj was completely out of sorts after conceding 122 runs in 23 overs without taking any wickets in Australia first innings.
Probably that was the reason that India captain Rohit Sharma called up Akash Deep to share the new ball with Bumrah in the Aussie second innings on Day 4.
Being denied the new ball and a keeper standing upto the stumps are the two biggest factors that can rub off a pacer’s ego.
These situations strike at the core of a pacer’s pride and role in the team, potentially fueling their competitive fire or exposing weaknesses.
Both situations put a pacer in a vulnerable position, testing their mental resilience and ability to bounce back. They challenge the bowler to prove their worth and reclaim their authority, which can either inspire growth or create friction, depending on how they are handled.
These challenges, though difficult, often separate great fast bowlers from the rest, highlighting their ability to rise above setbacks and continue delivering under pressure.
When a captain targets their own fast bowler’s ego, it can be a tactical move designed to motivate them, ignite their competitive fire, or bring out their best performance.
Fast bowlers often thrive on adrenaline and emotion. A captain’s calculated criticism or challenge can act as a spark to drive the bowler to prove a point and perform with extra intensity.
A social media video also showed skipper Rohit asking Siraj to step up.
“Don’t sit back and hide behind Bumrah, I need you to stand up and get the job done as well.”
This is where Siraj responded brilliantly on Day 4 when Bumrah needed support from the other end.
Akash Deep bowled well in tandem with Bumrah but was unlucky to get a wicket. Siraj replaced Bumrah in the attack after 10 overs and bowled with usual aggression but with improved line and length, creating more chances and troubling Aussie opener Usman Khawaja in particular.
And Siraj’s changed approach brought him a reward when he castled Khawaja with a full delivery that moved just enough to beat the inside edge and hit the top of off-stump.
In the eight over of the second session, a pumped up Siraj got the prized wicket of first innings centurion Steve Smith by inducing a false shot from the former Aussie captain and having him caught behind by Rishabh Pant.
This was the fourth instance that Siraj had dismissed Smith in 15 innings and that opened the gates for India as Bumrah then went on a rampage as he picked up the wickets of Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey in quick succession.
Marnus Labuschagne batted brilliantly to weather the Bumrah storm whose deliveries missed the Aussie bat’s edge umpteen times.
Going by stats, Bumrah bowled 60 balls to Labuschagne in the second innings and missed the outside edge 11 times. The Aussie edged 3 times scoring 24 runs off those 60 deliveries.
But it was Siraj who got Labuschagne on the first delivery of a new spell by trapping the Aussie plumb in front with a back of a length delivery that jagged back sharply from outside off.
Labuschagne was caught in the crease as he looked to block but missed to get struck on the back leg and as the third umpire went with the on-field umpire’s decision to give it out, a pumped up Siraj let the emotions flow.
With a bruised ego, Siraj stepped up today and bowled a superb spell either side of lunch where he accounted for Khawaja and Smith and later came up with the crucial scalp of Labuschagne.
Cricket is as much a mental game as it is physical. By challenging a fast bowler, a captain can test their mental toughness and ability to handle pressure, which is critical in high-stakes scenarios and when done correctly, it can be a powerful tool to bring the best out of a fast bowler.
With the high-stakes Border-Gavaskar Trophy still up for grabs, Siraj proved his captain right on Day 4 at the MCG.