DSP Mohammed Siraj worthy of multiple gallantry awards

DSP Mohammed Siraj worthy of multiple gallantry awards (BCCI Photo)

There are players who deliver when the chips are down. They are a certain breed. Things are hunky-dory and one wouldn’t notice them. But when the situation is dire or tends to get worse, they weather the storm. Some of them point at their chest after the rescue act, conveying without screaming that ‘I’m here’. Usually, they are not the glam boys of the team.

An example is Mohammed Siraj. Starting out as an understudy of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, he has stepped out of their shadows. He is a powerful entity in himself, whose performance can help India win from unlikely situations. He had done that in Australia and England in the past. In England this year, where the team came back twice to draw the five-Test series 2-2, Siraj was the most valuable performer, although the Player of the Series award for India went to Shubman Gill. With due respect to the captain’s gigantic tally of 754 runs, India might not have won those two Tests had Siraj not bowled his heart out.

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At 31-plus, this man with a fiery temperament refused rest and played all five Tests. Of the pacers of the two teams, England’s Chris Woakes was the only other one to do that. Always charged up and waiting for the ball to be tossed at him, Siraj bowled 185.3 overs and took 23 wickets. Both figures were the highest in the series from either side.

The two matches that India won, they were without Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj led by example and inspired an inexperienced bunch of quicks. The world’s best fast bowler missing crunch games to comply with workload management and a guy blamed for being erratic and mercurial in the past getting everything right session after session is possibly the most enduring sight of that thrilling Test series.

Getting early breakthroughs, breaking partnerships, uprooting tail-enders when things got nervy in the final Test and showing exceptional control over skills other than setting templates of commitment — the DSP (Siraj’s rank in Telangana Police) won multiple gallantry awards from pundits and fans.

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The irony with performers like them is their deeds are not always reflected in records. What’s a four-wicket haul compared to a double century! Luckily, Siraj’s bravery is glorified by the fact that he is the highest Test wicket-taker in 2025 following the two matches against West Indies, where he scalped 10. With 37 victims from eight matches, he has overtaken Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani. Sixteen of those came from the two games Bumrah didn’t play. The tally will increase if Siraj is fielded against South Africa.

Bumrah is one and only, but is the person who doesn’t let his absence felt any less valuable?