Data Shorts: Dissecting Siraj's imperious new-ball run

Mohammed Siraj aced his new-ball duties at a more familiar home territory against a fiery Sunrisers Hyderabad line-up on Sunday. SRH's hopes once again rested on Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma – the swashbuckling opening pair who averaged 70.25 at a scoring of 14.53 runs per over in wins, compared to 14 and 8.5 respectively in defeats – prior to the contest. Within half an hour, Siraj had dismissed both, while bowling a staggering 13 dots in his three-over new ball burst.

Siraj now has combined returns of 6/69 from 11 overs (ER: 6.27) in the powerplay in IPL 2025. No bowler has bagged more wickets in this phase after the first 19 matches. Among the ones who have delivered at least two overs in the powerplay, his scarcely believable dot-ball percentage of 63.6% is only bettered by Josh Hazlewood (72.2%). All his six wickets have come off good length deliveries, keeping batters on their toes while consistently hitting that mark.

In his first over on Sunday, Head found the boundary twice (one of them uncontrolled), before being caught at mid-wicket. Abhishek was put under sustained pressure in the next one, playing out five dots in a row while being cramped for room, and barely managed to clear mid-on off on the sixth. Siraj had his moment soon after, having the left-hander caught at the same spot off a mistimed loft. He later found some reverse swing as well, adding two more wickets at the back-end to finish with a T20 career best of 4/17.

Previously, Siraj returned 0/14 from his two overs in the Powerplay against Punjab Kings, before Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya took 45 from overs 4-6 to set it up for a daunting 243/5. Both MI openers were castled within the first three overs of their run-chase, the highlight being the one that nipped in sharply to breach Rohit Sharma's defence. Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal tried to unsettle his lengths, only to find their stumps rattled. Factor in the former surviving once earlier, with Jos Buttler dropping a straightforward catch.

Powerplays have historically been a definitive factor in IPL results over the years, and for Siraj, it has been no different. RCB won four of the six home games Siraj featured in last season, the right-arm quick bagging 4 wickets at an economy rate of 8 with the new ball in those. In the other two, he returned 0/42 from three overs combined. There has been a stark contrast in his powerplay numbers in wins and defeats across his IPL career.

Mohammed Siraj in Overs 1-6 in the IPL

Gujarat Titans quicks bagged 50 wickets in the powerplay across their impressive first two campaigns, 12 clear of the next best RCB (38, of which 15 were accounted by Siraj). Mohammed Shami bagged 28 of those 50 scalps, and his services were clearly missed in 2024, wherein GT seamers went at 9.42 runs per over in the first six overs during the season – the highest among the 10 teams – and finished eighth in the league.

Less than two years ago, Siraj demolished Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023 final, becoming the first Indian to bag five wickets within the first 10 overs of an ODI (including four in the same over!), and was an integral part in the team's dominant run to the World Cup 2023 final soon after. If the recent Champions Trophy snub has indeed fuelled a hunger for redemption, this has been a fabulous start.