"Aaj nahi ho paega yaar Siraj, tu aaj rest le le. (You won't be able to play tonight, Siraj my friend, take rest.)"
These were Mohammed Siraj's thoughts when he woke up on Saturday. He had felt ill since Friday night, and came close to opting out of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's home clash against Gujarat Titans. But he chose to fight it out.
It's the best decision Siraj could have taken, because had he not, he would have missed out on leading an RCB bowling effort that restricted Titans to the joint third-lowest powerplay score in the history of the IPL. The first six overs of Titans' innings featured more wickets than boundaries - this at a venue where the average run rate in this phase before Saturday had been 10.27, where teams had lost just eight wickets in eight innings this season, and where Sunrisers Hyderabad had smashed the highest total in IPL history barely 20 days earlier.
With flat tracks and short boundaries, six-hitting fests at M Chinnaswamy Stadium are commonplace. In IPL 2024 alone, a total of 111 sixes have been hit here in five games, only behind Kolkata's Eden Gardens. But the theme changed at least in the first half of the RCB-Titans game and a lot of it had to do with the surface, which had a nice covering of grass on it.
It immediately brought the bowlers into play, and once Faf du Plessis elected to field, the RCB quicks didn't miss a beat. The first over featured Swapnil Singh's left-arm spin, possibly with Wriddhiman Saha's preference for pace in mind, but it didn't take long for RCB to realise pace was the way to go.
There was movement and carry, and the RCB fast men went on an all-out attack. They didn't attempt any slower balls in the first six overs, and predominantly bowled a good length or just short of it. The rewards were almost immediate.
It was Siraj who began the Titans slide with a peach of an outswinger that Saha edged to the wicketkeeper. "When I woke up, I was thinking when Saha will be batting, I would be releasing the ball in this way, and I will get him caught behind," Siraj said after the game. "And that's exactly what happened."
In his next over, Siraj induced Shubman Gill to miscue a big hit, with the seaming ball doing the damage. Yash Dayal got considerable movement and carry too, before Cameron Green joined in on the fun, cleaning up Sai Sudharsan. By the time the powerplay was done, Titans had only managed 23 runs, hit two fours, and lost three wickets. Their 23 for 2 was comfortably the lowest powerplay score of IPL 2024.
But what had changed from RCB's previous games? The answer according to assistant coach Adam Griffith lay in the bowlers' lines.
"We've swung the ball all tournament up front," he said at the post-match press conference. "I think what we've done in the last couple of games is we've bowled a better line. We talked a lot about bowling straighter and attacking the stumps as much as we can to challenge the batters' defence there and make them play aggressive shots. If they want to come at us, it's a challenge for them to do.
"Tonight was one of our better ones for a while. The boys put it exactly where we wanted them. It was good to see the hard work of the boys pay off."
The RCB bowling unit has been under the pump in the tournament. Coming into this game, they had the worst economy rate for any team (10.28) and picked up the fewest wickets (45) in the tournament. To change that, they needed the leader of their attack to step up, and Siraj did so brilliantly with figures of 2 for 9 in the powerplay.
"I haven't bowled with the new ball too much this season," he said. "But this felt great today because that new ball is my strength. Last year I did really well with the new ball, I got a lot of wickets. Today's performance brought back memories of last year."
Siraj was RCB's rock last season, picking up 19 wickets including 10 in the powerplay. In comparison, he had had a tough IPL 2024 up to this point: eight wickets in ten matches, and just four in the powerplay. He was also rested for their home game against Sunrisers on April 15, giving him a break that may have helped him find his groove.
"I had been playing red-ball cricket for a long time, and then suddenly a shift to white ball was not easy," he said. "I was lacking in rhythm initially. I felt something was lacking. But as I kept on practicing, I got my rhythm back."
Griffith also agreed that the short rest did Siraj a world of good, and he elaborated on why he is such a critical component of RCB's bowling unit.
"Siraj is a rhythm bowler. He's the leader of our group," Griffith said. "He's our most experienced bowler, especially among our Indian quicks, but even with our international guys. Having him up and going and bowling well…but it's not just him bowling well, it's his aggression, it's his body language, it's his taking the batters on to try and get wickets. He's such an important part of what we're trying to do. So, having him up and going, swinging the ball again, bowling with good pace, as I said being aggressive is so important."
While the first six overs of Titans' innings went a long way in defining the outcome of the contest, Bengaluru is one place where batters, if they find their groove, can quickly change the narrative. David Miller and Shahrukh Khan showed this during a counterattacking stand of 61 off 37 balls, but RCB's bowlers roared back once they broke the partnership. The innings ended with a team hat-trick as Titans were bowled out with three balls to spare.
It was ironic in a way that one of this season's most maligned attacks had brought about its lowest powerplay score. It was a reminder of the quality within that attack, however, particularly the new-ball skills of Siraj in peak rhythm.