Mohammed Siraj shared his thoughts and heavily criticised the flat pitches in IPL 2024 that ruined the bowlers.
Teams crossing the two hundred-run mark in IPL 2024 is now a usual event. However, a few years ago, a 200-plus run seemed unattainable. Several cricket experts, including Sourav Ganguly, had already opined regarding the abnormal run rate, with the ‘Impact Player’ rule and flat pitches being the cause of it. Recently, RCB’s pace sensation Mohammed Siraj has also weighed in, saying smaller grounds and flat pitches are making 250-plus totals the new normal.
“See, nowadays cricket is really different; now 250-260 is made in every second match; earlier, 250 was a rare thing,” said Siraj in a post-match conference. Picking up six wickets this season, Siraj, however, did not put a leash on criticising the flat pitches, which has caused harm to the bowlers. “There is no help for bowlers; there are smaller grounds and flat wickets; there is no swing in the ball, so lots of changes. Bowlers can just keep playing and keep getting hit,” remarked the pacer.
However, Siraj did not lose hope, as he optimistically sent out a message for the bowlers. “As a bowler, you have to keep your self-belief. I have seen lots of ups and downs in life, so I don’t give up if 1-2 matches don’t go my way. I look for a comeback,” Siraj said.
“After one month, there is the World Cup… so I tell myself that if I get hit on a good ball, it is fine, but I need to keep bowling less bad balls. I have not really bowled too badly this IPL; now 40 runs (in the quota of four overs) is normal in T20 cricket. T20 is all about luck; you don’t get wickets on good balls, and sometimes even a full toss gets you a wicket. So luck matters a lot. I keep working on my flaws during training,” added Siraj, emphasising that luck too plays an important role in turning the game for a player.
Meanwhile, Siraj, aka ‘Miyan’, has not been at his peak this IPL season with an economy rate of 9.50 so far. While the purple cap holder, Jasprit Bumrah, had bagged 14 wickets, Siraj was placed in the 39th position with very little scope to make him the top contender for the purple cap.
Last Updated on April 29, 2024
