Opinion Mohammed Siraj and the human heart of Test cricket

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed in the end.

India needed to pick up four wickets before England’s batters could score the remaining 35 runs in 90 overs. A day earlier, Siraj had given a reprieve to England batter Harry Brooke, who was then on 19, and went on to notch up a ton. And the wounds of The Lord’s Test were still fresh.

India needed 22 runs to win that match when Siraj, the last batter, was out bowled. He thought he had middled the ball, but the cherry slid through his defences to gently push over the bails and break a million Indian hearts. Mohammed Siraj’s face mirrored their disbelief and dejection that day.

But on August 4, he took matters into his own hands. The bowler from Hyderabad revealed he had set a Ronaldo poster with the words “believe” as his phone wallpaper. It was only fair that he took the final wicket, castling the off stump of Gus Atkinson to win the match for India and bag a five-wicket haul.

These 25 days of cricket were the best advertisement for the longest format of the game that conveyed how heartache and happiness are part of the human experience.

Mohammed Siraj’s resolve showed that humanness lies in allowing ourselves to feel the whole range of emotions from anger and grief to that lingering self-belief and finally relief and jubilation.

At a time of mighty corporations and strongman global leaders amassing greater power, this series was about the small guys standing up to make themselves heard. Prasidh Krishna, lampooned as the 12th man in the English line-up for conceding too many runs, bowled fast and scalped wickets. Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul grew in their roles as the newest senior members. And Gill, a young captain, seemed unburdened after the exit of “greats” such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

In many ways, Mohammed Siraj is the truest spiritual successor of Kohli, who also wore his heart on his sleeve and possessed uncanny self-belief. Siraj’s playbook, if one were to look for a fictional parallel, could be straight out of Superman’s latest screen adaptation: “I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices I can”.

There was so much in this Test series that will never make it to the highlights reel.

The mid-over deliberations, the near misses and the balls that set up the wicket were as crucial as the ones that are plastered on social media feeds showing key wickets and daring shotmaking.

This Test series won’t just bring back the old fans who were unsure about the new crop of cricketers; it will also be the perfect introduction for the generation that will hopefully grow up idolising a bowler who gave his all on the field, not only when the conditions suited him, but especially when they didn’t.

And the new fans will learn that truly loving something means braving the what-ifs, that heartbreak is the cost of being human and self-belief a prerequisite.

In some ways, then, the heartbreak of the Lord’s Test set up the redemption arc at Kennington Oval. Asked to contrast the winning moment with that day, Mohammed Siraj flashed a pained smile and recalled Jadeja’s advice “to just middle the ball and not worry too much”. There was one more thing: “He asked me to think about my father and all the hard yards I had put in so far. Pretty unfortunately, it happened,” Siraj said, referring to the narrow loss as he fought back emotions after a thrilling victory.
And then some say it’s just a game.

swapnil.joglekar@indianexpress.com