How Bharat Arun Helped Mohammed Siraj Become A World-Class Bowler

Not so long ago, Mohammed Siraj got a big break when he was selected to play for the Indian national team in Australia after a number of players were injured.

Since then, there has been no looking back for the Hyderabadi-born pacer. He has gone from strength to strength and is currently an important player in Virat Kohli’s scheme of things.

Even at the iconic Lord’s recently, he turned the game in a span of two deliveries when he picked up the wickets of Moeen Ali and Sam Curran of consecutive balls.

But the Siraj-Bharat Arun story starts way back in 2016 in Hyderabad when former cricketer P Jyothi Prasad handed over the pacer. Bharat Arun was the Hyderabad coach in 2016-17 when he met Siraj and started working with him.

“If you give a kid a toy, he will keep playing with it right? On seeing the slope Bharat Arun obviously told him to angle it across with a scrambled seam. So, he kept on doing it with grand success,” India fielding coach R Sridhar told R Ashwin when the latter wanted to know the reason behind Siraj’s excellent use of the Lord’s slope.

Siraj’s equation with Bharat Arun is one of the best coach-player relationships in modern-day cricket.

“If you give a kid a toy, he will keep playing with it right? On seeing the slope Bharat Arun obviously told him to angle it across with a scrambled seam. So, he kept on doing it with grand success,” India fielding coach R Sridhar told R Ashwin when the latter wanted to know the reason behind Siraj’s excellent use of the Lord’s slope.