Mohammed Siraj last played for India just under two months ago, in the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval. Expectedly, he was slightly off-colour at the start of play on Day 1 of the first Test against West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
But it took only one wicket for him to find his groove again. That scalp came in the 10th over, removing Brandon King with his now-renowned wobble seam delivery. Revealing the thinking behind the dismissal, Siraj said that he used the delivery when his away swinger was not working for him.
“When my in-swing stopped. I automatically started getting an out-swing. Then, I realised that this is what is called ‘wobble seam’. I kept putting it in practice. I have just heard of the term wobble seam. So, I will tilt the seam a little and bowl.
“When the out-swing is not working, then my wobble seam will work more. And till now, it has given me the same success. So, I am enjoying that thing. And as it was today’s wicket, the swing was not happening that much. So, I thought that the seam is happening here. So, the wobble seam will be more effective. So, I stuck more on it, the wobble seam,” Siraj explained after the opening day’s play.
The 31-year-old pacer, who rose admirably in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence in England, admitted that it was a hard toil for him in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
“I get wickets by working hard. I got wickets by working hard in England as well. Here also, I worked hard. It is not like mujhe free ka wicket diya mujhe 5 wicket pe koi nahi diya. I had to work hard to get those four wickets,” he pointed out.
With three more home Tests to go, Siraj will want to increase his workload steadily. He will, however, hope that the wobble seam fetches him more success on other surfaces during the course of the home season.
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