‘Miya ready ho jaao naya ball dalne hai’

Hyderabad pace bowler Mohammed Siraj produced a magical performance picking up three wickets for eight runs in his four-over spell in RCB’s eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.

Hyderabad: ‘Miya ready ho jaao naya ball dalne hai’ (Get ready to bowl with the new ball) is what Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli told Mohammed Siraj after seeing Chris Morris’ first over. Waiting for a chance like this to bowl with the new ball, Hyderabad pace bowler grabbed the opportunity with both hands and produced a magical performance picking up three wickets for eight runs in his four-over spell in RCB’s eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.

Speaking after the match, Siraj, who also became the first bowler in IPL history to bowl two back-to-back maiden overs, said the plan to bowl him with the new ball was taken after Morris’ first over. “When we saw the wicket first, we didn’t think there would be any swing. But the way Morris bowled the first over and beat the batsmen, Kohli had a chat with AB (de Villiers) and decided to give me the new ball. I got a lot of confidence bowling with the new ball” he said.

Speaking about his performance, he said, “The RCB management, fans supported me a lot. I wanted to deliver a magical performance this season. When I knew that IPL was happening, I practised hard and wanted to do something different this season. Luckily, I delivered in this match.”

He also said that his natural ball was inswinger but bowled outswingers well that dismissed Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana off successive deliveries in his first over. “My natural ball is an inswinger. I got outswing in the nets. I didn’t think much about it and practised outswingers as well. I used to bowl the same lines in the practice to Devdutt (Padikkal) and Parthiv (Patel) and executed it in the match today,” he revealed.

He also said that Morris’ inclusion boosted their bowling unit’s confidence. “AB played very well in the previous match and that gave us a lot of confidence. We went into this match with the same confidence and Morris’ presence helped our performances a lot. He bowled very well in power plays,” concluded the Hyderabadi.

Meanwhile, KKR coach Brendon McCullum said that their batters let the team down. “First of RCB bowled very well. Siraj bowled excellent lines and lengths and asked us questions. We spoke about showing some intent with the bat at the top. But we were poor with the bat today. We have to bounce back as we have matches in a few days’ time.”

He said that batsmen should have done something different to put the bowlers under pressure. “You can use your crease, advance or go deeper in the crease and apply pressure on the bowler. We didn’t do anything tonight to put pressure on the opposition. I don’t think there was a lot in the wicket, but Siraj bowled very well. We were a bit timid in our approach. We need to address that in the next few days. We are at fourth in the points table luckily and the destiny is in our hands. We need to bounce back quickly,” the New Zealander concluded.

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