Blockbuster Siraj once again shows he is no longer a sidekick

It's a week to go to that memorable day from three years ago that made Mohammed Siraj. The day he emerged from being a punching bag with the worst IPL economy - among 92 bowlers who had bowled at least 100 overs until then - to being a heavyweight champion.

The day he showed he could make the new ball dance to his tunes and nip out highly-skilled batters. Amid a glut of T20s where performances come and go, Siraj left a lasting impression that night.

Watching from afar at his farm in Alibaug, then India head coach Ravi Shastri knew he could be a trump card against Australia in two months' time from then. The performance set in stone a series of life-altering months where Siraj went from being yet another IPL bowler to an Indian Test cricketer that December on Boxing Day. Siraj's has been quite a rise since.

When Jasprit Bumrah was injured and out of the game for ten months with a back injury, Siraj accepted the responsibility of being front and centre of India's pace pack, along with Mohammed Shami. He was no longer the sidekick to the hero; he was blockbuster material himself.

A part of the reason for his improvement, and elevation, was his keenness to learn and get better. It helped to have a sounding board like Bharat Arun, who helped him fine-tune his skills. But while the Siraj of 2020 could move the ball both ways, he wasn't the old-ball bowler as he is today.

Now, Rohit Sharma banks on him to deliver across phases. Even if he doesn't start well, the after-effects don't last long enough to seep into his next spell. And when he is in the zone, like he was in the Asia Cup final not long ago, batters can be sitting ducks.

On Saturday, in his first World Cup game against Pakistan, Siraj started poorly. He was searching for swing, but there was none. And in trying to bowl full, he kept bowling half volleys that were picked away for three boundaries by Imam-ul-Haq in his opening over.

At the other end, Bumrah kept a tight lid. As Siraj stood at fine leg after his third over, substitute Suryakumar Yadav came around with a message. What was told is anybody's guess. It's entirely possible they weren't talking cricket at all. But there was a slight change in Siraj's plans as he returned.

Siraj began to shorten his lengths considerably. He was bounding in and hitting the deck hard. The black-soil deck didn't give him the same zip or bounce that a red-soil surface would have, but at least the plan was to not err on the fuller side. Off the final delivery in his fourth over, he trapped Abdullah Shafique lbw with a length ball that kept a tad low. This is something Siraj touched upon at the post-match press conference.

"Yes, absolutely," he replied when asked if it was a plan to go shorter. "With the new ball, you have to see if it's swinging or not. You can pitch it up at the start and can [afford to] get hit for a few boundaries because it's such a big format. Then you understand what line is better on this wicket.

"Then we consistently keep hitting those areas. Abdullah Shafique's wicket was a plan because I had spoken to Rohit bhai. I had bowled a bouncer to him before but he got stuck in the middle. Then I talked to Rohit for a while and spent some time there. He [Shafique] thought I was going to bowl a bouncer again. He was on the back foot, and I pitched the ball up and got success."

After winning the Player-of-the-Match award for 2 for 19 off his seven overs, Bumrah spoke of how his first instinct is to try to read a surface quickly, and then formulate plans to bowl on it. Siraj touched upon how he picked up cues from watching Bumrah go.

"If you don't get a wicket, you're building pressure and putting in dot balls. When Jassi [Bumrah] bowls, you can see what line is better on the wicket," Siraj said. "When you're at the third-man or final-leg boundary, you get to see the line and get some information from the keeper also as to what line is better on this wicket. So it becomes easier to execute."

Siraj's second wicket of the day was perhaps the biggest. It helped break a flourishing 82-run stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Brought back, he struck in the second over of a new spell - in the 30th - with a skiddy cross-seam delivery that beat Babar for pace as he tried to run one down to deep third, a shot Babar prides himself on playing better than most. That wicket opened the floodgates. Pakistan went from cruising at 155 for 2 to 191 all out.

"I started bowling cross-seam from the third over," Siraj said when asked about how he found his rhythm. "In the end, there were chances of the ball reversing. When I was bowling with the seam, it was coming onto the bat easily. With cross-seam, I thought there could be low bounce; sometimes you [also] get extra bounce. It worked. You saw the result."

The result was indeed a fine one. Bumrah walked away with the honours, and deservedly so, but it helped to a great extent that he had an able support cast on the night, with Siraj playing more than just a cameo.