Happy birthday, Mohammed Siraj: The chief architect of the conquest of the Gabba and the Lord’s

The Ashes has been one of the bitterest cricketing rivalries of all time where England and Australia have not held back, firing on all cylinders. It was the Ashes of 2019 when Jofra Archer took things to a different level, rekindling the infamous memories of the Bodyline Series and the spooky 70s and 80s where the batters would walk out to face the towering Caribbean bowlers steaming in at 6’4 or 6’5.

Gone were the days of the Whispering Death, the Big Bird or Paddles as they were a thing adorning the ruffled pages of history. The 21st century belonged to Sicknote or the one they popularly call The Archer as he smashed through the grille of Steve Smith, leaving him with a nasty concussion and followed it up with another unflattering sweet chin music against Steve’s concussion substitute Marnus Labuschagne.

Witnessing these miracles unfurl would obviously beg the question to any cricket fan that who is that one fast bowler from your country who can pull off a similar stunt in the most glacial conditions. An Indian fan would obviously spurt out the name of Jasprit Bumrah, but in an encounter where the pacer had to be rested, it was altogether a youngster who stepped in and rattled Steve Smith and Tim Paine with a couple of nasty bumpers that would have straightaway sunk in a déjà vu of that dark past where the former Australian skipper had to return to the pavilion with a stinging tizz in his head. He was none other than birthday boy, RCB star Mohammed Siraj.

As we celebrate his 29th birthday today, it is a day to look back at two iconic fixtures that he was part of, where he braved almost insurmountable odds, not just on the field but off the field as well where a torrent of racial slurs was hurled at him and that too at a time when he lost his dad and yet he didn’t lose the dream that his father planted in him. He was there in line with his fellow Indian teammates, singing the national anthem with tears rolling down his eyes. It was at the Australian fortress, the Gabbatoir or what is popularly called the Gabba.

Donning the whites for the final Test where almost half of the Indian side was sidelined with injuries or other personal pretexts, Siraj had the responsibility of stalling the Australian juggernaut in the same battlefield that remained unsullied for almost three decades. The first innings was pedestrian for the Hyderabadi lad as he could barely emanate decent pace and swing was extremely hard to come by.

Come second innings, just when the Australian hosts started to become a lot more unwelcome, inflicting some serious pain upon the Indian bowlers, Mohammed Siraj stepped up. The first victim to Siraj’s unfathomable seam was Marnus Labuschagne as he nicked to Rohit Sharma, barely able to gauge which way the cherry was drifting. Matthew Wade took the long walk back to the pavilion in very short succession as a delivery that seemed toothless in its initial flight path, took that late wobble and kissed Wade’s bat and flew to the gloves of Pant who was diving leg side to pluck a stunner.

Former Australian skipper Smith seemed to be in good touch as he motored the innings further alongside then Australian captain Paine until Siraj came back for another surprising spell. Steaming in hot, over the wicket, he rattled Smith with a nasty bouncer that took the latter by surprise and even before he could realise what had struck him, Ajinkya Rahane was on his way to celebrate as he took a sitter at the second slip.

Following suit, Siraj took on Paine, leaving him derailed with an absolute rib-rattler that left the Aussie skipper in visible discomfort. Albeit, Paine falling to Thakur after being left gobsmacked by Siraj’s bumper, the latter completed his five-wicket haul that included the likes of Marnus, Smith, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to help India set up a platform for what would prove to be a historical win, engineered by Pant’s heroics.

If Gabba was a prelude to the upcoming greatness for a young and rebellious Siraj, then the Home of Cricket, Lord’s, was the glass-shattering crescendo where he crippled England with a four-fer in the first innings bagging the all-important scalps of Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Robinson in the first innings followed by a match-winning performance in the second.

Chasing 272, when England were firmly poised for a probable draw from the sheer jaws of defeat, Mohammed Siraj put his foot down and brought out the magical brand of seam that he is known for, leaving England contorting in agony. It all started with Moeen Ali as the bearded maestro seemed to get comfortable in the center alongside a warring Jos Buttler. Once again it was the late seam that left Ali off the hook and in the end, Kohli would bag a simple take at the second slip.

The fall of Ali’s wicket triggered an unwanted collapse as Sam Curran could do very little before he would end up nicking to the safe hands of Pant. After a prolonged battle of resilience from the one and only Buttler, it was Siraj who would manage to angle the ball away from the English wicket-keeper in the last moment that would emanate the nick and send it straight into the gloves of Pant to help India sniff what was going to be a historical conquest.

After facing a couple of deliveries, one of which tested the ribs of Anderson, Siraj changed his angle to come steaming in and eventually struck what is deemed as a fast bowler’s paradise. He used the late seam to clip the top of Anderson’s off-stump, as India powered to a humdinger win in what is deemed as the sacred Mecca of cricket by any zealot of the sport. For a man who conquers Gabba and the Lord’s in the same breath is a man who is very special to any cricketing force of the world.  Happy birthday, Miyan. Enjoy your day like none other.