An opening burst of classical swing bowling saw Mohammed Siraj run through the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) top-order and help Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) dominate the proceedings thereafter in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (October 21).
Siraj's new-ball exploits (3/8) pushed KKR into a corner they never recovered from, managing just 84/8 in 20 overs, one of the lowest scores in IPL history, which RCB comfortably moved past with nearly seven overs and eight wickets left in their innings.
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Speaking of his performance at the post-match press conference, the earnest Hyderabadi said he wasn't expecting to enjoy the early movement that there was, adding that the hardwork done in the nets leading up to the fixture paid huge dividends for him.
"I didn't think there will be much swing when I looked at the wicket," Siraj said. "I had been practising with the new ball in the practice sessions and when I got the new ball, that also gave me the confidence."
"My natural swing is into the batsman but when my ball starting away in the practice sessions, I didn't think much of it. I just kept going with the flow instead of thinking why my inswing wasn't coming out properly."
Siraj got both Rahul Tripathi (1) and Tom Banton (10) out caught behind, but the dismissal closest to his heart was the one where he got left-hander Nitish Rana (0) clean bowled off an inswinger from over the wicket angle.
"In our practise sessions, we have Devdutt Padikkal and Parthiv Patel. I bowl the same length to them which I bowled to Nitish Rana. I did the same thing in the game and was able to execute it well," he said.
Despite this performance, Siraj knows he still has a long way to go as a bowler, reflected in his record - economy rate of 9.02 across 30 IPL games - which doesn't give the best of readings.
Often facing criticism, scrutiny and considered the weaker link around Yuzvendra Chahal, Chris Morris and Washington Sundar in the RCB attack, the 26-year-old thanked the team management, including skipper Virat Kohli, for keeping their faith on him.
"I've always had a lot of support from the RCB setup," he said. "All I wanted to do this year was give a magical performance. I wanted to do something different this year. Whenever I used to think about my performance in IPL 2020 (before the tournament), I had made up my mind that I will deliver a performance to remember."
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
