Siraj finds joy in his bowling again as the wickets follow

“I could feel that I wasn’t enjoying my bowling,” he said at the end of the tour game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Sunday. “As a person I am someone who gets a different feeling when I’m enjoying my bowling, even if I’m not getting wickets. And now when I wasn’t getting wickets, I went a bit deep into why I wasn’t getting them. In India you know that spinners bowl most of the overs, so there it’s a little tough to get wickets in [the] five-six overs [you get as a fast bowler]. So I just became a bit upset about why I wasn’t getting wickets. But now I am having a lot of fun.”

Even though its only been one match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Siraj is already closing in on his wickets tally over the last three months, having picked up five in Perth. He checked in with former India bowling coach Bharat Arun to help find his centre.

“I spoke with Bharat Arun sir, that this is what’s happening with me,” Siraj said. “Because he has known me for a while and he has seen my bowling from long time back. So he just told me to enjoy and not run after wickets. Just enjoy and you’ll get wickets. And before travelling, I met [fielding coach] Dilip sir in Hyderabad and we practiced together as well. So it felt good and now I’m enjoying.

“Morne [Morkel, India’s current bowling coach] keeps telling me that ‘you are a warrior’. ‘You’ll get us wickets, but you just keep enjoying your bowling’.”

“This [pink] ball has a synthetic feeling,” Siraj said. “This is different to the red ball we play with. There can be a bit of confusion due to the ball, but it’s just one match so we just have to focus on that and practice for it and we’ll improve day-by-day. The seam is very hard. It’s bright, and quite big. The more you practice with it, the better you get.

“I think that with the pink ball, it’s better to bowl back of length. Because pitching it up, there’s not a lot of swing, so the more you hit the deck and get it to seam, it will be better for us.

“I have heard that the ball swings a lot under the lights but I haven’t yet bowled with it under lights. So when we go to Adelaide and practice, we will try that. And the more practice we get, we’ll know more about what we have to do.”

“I always keep talking to Jassi bhai [Bumrah],” Siraj said. “Even before the first match, I spoke with him about what I was going through. And he just told me one thing – don’t run after wickets, just keep bowling consistently in one area and enjoy your bowling. If you still don’t get wickets, then you come ask me. So I enjoyed my bowling and I got wickets as well.

“Australia is a place where a fast bowler enjoys because you get pace and bounce. As a fast bowler, you get everything you want. So you get a different kind of confidence to come and enjoy your bowling here.”

Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo