One of the worst compliments a bowler can get is, "Well bowled, bad luck." All bowlers enjoy playing well, but they would prefer to take a bushel of wickets while playing poorly than the opposite.

Mohammed Siraj may have been questioning for a while how to change his "bad luck." Siraj has been all heart since his debut in Melbourne in December 2020 (not long after the death of his father in Hyderabad and when he was unable to return home due to Covid-19 restrictions that would have kept him from rejoining the team). He gives his all, whether he's on the field or on the ball. The way success is measured—by the number of wickets taken or runs saved in the outfield—has not always reflected that. However, Siraj has never given up, even if the pun is bad.

At long last, the 31-year-old would have been a mix of joy and relief when the rewards ultimately arrived at Edgbaston on Friday. Joyful that he filled in during Jasprit Bumrah's absence when the team needed him most, and relieved that all of his dedication, enthusiasm, and fire were ultimately rewarded with something to show for it.

Siraj's most recent five-fer in Tests was in January of last year, on the first morning of the third day of the second Test, when he wrecked South Africa on a spiteful Newlands surface. He went six for fifteen, while Bumrah only managed two for twenty-five. India's series-leveling seven-wicket win was set up by that jaw-dropping first session. Siraj will be hoping that his superb performance with both new balls on Friday—six for seventy—will set the stage for a similar outcome.

It has grown fashionable to disparage Siraj over the years. With an average of 30.71 from 38 Tests, his strike rate of 52.4 balls per wicket is not bad. For perspective, Mohammed Shami, who is well-regarded, has a strike rate of 50.3 and an average of 27.7. Compared to Siraj, he doesn't fare as badly, but the perception of Indian cricket is an odd thing, which is why the broader environment quickly characterized the Indian bowling attack in Australia over the winter as a one-man army.

Although Bumrah was by far the tallest man on the field—teammate and opponent alike—Siraj threw more overs than everyone else save Pat Cummins, and he took more wickets than only Bumrah, Cummins, and Scott Boland, who were the only three bowlers who bowled at a faster rate than him. His total of 20 sticks was just one behind Boland, and he performed better than Mitchell Starc, but Bumrah's brilliance made all of that seem insignificant.

Mohammed Siraj silences his detractors, but the task is not yet finished

Siraj would be the first to concede that he might have and should have done more. The lack of wickets must have worried him, particularly since former coworkers were even asking about his role in the scheme of things. In Australia, he acknowledged that Bumrah helped alleviate his anxiety by reminding him that he should concentrate on what he needed to do rather than be concerned about the outcome. He is now able to give himself a little pat on the back, but only a little one, as he is aware that he still has a lot of work to do in this Test and moving forward.

On Friday, Siraj might have caught a glimpse of himself in his besieged buddy Prasidh Krishna. India started out by making a terrible short-ball attack against Jamie Smith, and the Karnataka pacer gave up runs by the dozen in his first stint, surrendering 50 runs in just five overs. Prasidh was smashing the ball into his own half of the field against his will. In an attempt to catch the English wicketkeeper on the pull, Shubman Gill positioned three guys to patrol the leg-side boundary and a fourth one halfway to the fence. On a somewhat slow, unresponsive pitch where the ball barely bounced over the waist, Smith could counter every Prasidh bouncer. Prasidh's reputation as a prolific boundary leaker had grown significantly by the time he bowled a more traditional length after lunch, despite the fact that he repeatedly struck the bat.

"Someone in the team had to do it," Prasidh remarked last week in Leeds, where he was also assigned to enforce the bouncer rule. "I can't sit back and say, 'I want to look at my numbers, what my economy is'." At Edgbaston, where Siraj and Akash Deep combined for all 10 wickets, Prasidh was the lone uninteresting wicketless player. Knowing Siraj, he would have already informed his pace buddy that his moment is approaching. The Hyderabadi, after all, is referred to by jigra for a reason.

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