How a fit Siraj cracked the pacers’ endurance formula

The pacer is built to bowl long spells but discipline and Virat Kohli’s influence has made him better

- Somshuvra Laha

This is how Mohammad Siraj’s bio used to read like before the India-England series—nice outswinger, a deceptive wobble-seam ball, a big heart but not enough returns.

Twenty three wickets in England at an average of 32.43 will go a long way in changing that narrative, but jumping out of his statistics page is the 185.3 overs Siraj bowled across five Tests. That's an incredible 37 overs per Test. In the backdrop of Jasprit Bumrah being available only for three Tests, Akash Deep being in and out due to injury and Prasidh Krishna's inconsistent form, the scale of Siraj’s contribution is nothing short of phenomenal.

How did he muster the endurance for it?

Nothing happened overnight, says renowned strength and conditioning coach Basu Shanker, who guided Siraj at Royal Challengers Bengaluru as well as at the senior India setup. “At first, Siraj was only a raw fast bowler. Then he added fitness, then strength training, then better lifestyle, nutrition, supplements and so on. He has added a lot of things over a period of five-six years,” Basu told HT.