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Showing posts with label Naked Cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naked Cricket. Show all posts
Inside Siraj's fantasy world of Miya Magic.
Siraj can be earnest to a fault. And yet at the same time, he can stare at any Batman with those crazy-eyes. The man wielding the bat is neither a batter nor a batsman, he is, in Siraj’s world, Batman.
Siraj is a comic in the guise of a bowler. He is some related incarnate of Sreesanth, who was also a comic.
Comics don’t go down well in Indian cricket. They are either superheroes, legends, the next big thing, yet they always confirm. If you don’t, someone will be very firm with you, and that will be that.
Even great spells can’t save you then. A gig with a broadcaster extends some form of armistice.
But that’s another’s story. Here we are in Siraj’s story.
To some in the world, Siraj may appear to be a comic. But in Siraj’s world, he is a superhero from one of those DC or Marvel comics. The difference between comic and comics is such.
So when the mantle of ‘Miya Magic’ was added, it was gleefully accepted. Such is Siraj, he’s often gleefully accepting. Except in between those 22 yards, where there is none; he puts on the garb of a superhero to do his Miya Magic thing.
It took a cricketing freak like AB de Villiers to coin Miya Magic. It took another one like Virat Kohli to help harness the magic with his backing.
Even superheroes don’t work in isolation anymore, this is the time of the Avengers - Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider – almost a cricket team.
Miya Magic and King Kohli. Miya Magic and Mr 360 degrees. Miya Magic and Boom Boom.
Where the wickets flow like the hugs after a 6/21 spell – magic. And as in the comics, it’s all rather straightforward. Siraj is out there to save the world, or at least Asia (cup) from Lanka – the land of Ravana, a fight of good over evil.
He is possessed by the powers of line and length vested in him. He unveils them, just as he does in celebration, aping another superhero, CR7’s ‘Siu’ style.
Every superhero has his Achilles heel – that which makes them nigh human. How else will they appeal to humanity?
With Siraj, it’s his rules of engagement – that often adhere to no rules at all. Siraj in the face of a Batman after being hit over the ropes - with the ‘same thing that makes you, breaks you’. Losing it bad. Yet not breaking. Rising. To fight another day.
Siraj hasn’t always been the toast of the IPL. Which in many a memory means, he’s not cutting it. Till he did last year, in his best season with the ball. His One Day International numbers lately, have been exceptional. Siraj’s one day had come. Repeatedly. In The Gabba Test, in 2021 (5/73). In the R Premadasa, in 2023 (6/21).
On both occasions, Siraj went to his super powers – killer Test lines and length. Pitched up. Ball moving. In. Out. Seam. In the air. A dream conjured by Siraj. A nightmare for the Lankans.
When Siraj tightens the screw
Screw all the words, the poems, the songs
Just gimme lines, lines, lines
Lines, Siraj
Gimme those lines
Siraj
Screw all the speeches, the process, the intent
Just gimme eyes, eyes, eyes
Eyes, Siraj
Gimme those eyes
Siraj
Screw all the noise, the SFX, the gyaan
Just gimme shhhhhhhhhh
Shhhhhh, Siraj
Gimme that shhhhhhhh
Siraj
Screw all of this
Screw all of them
Screw it all
Screw them all
Just take this strip
Just let it rip
Just take this strip
Just let it rip
Let it rip
Screw all those variations, comparisons, prophecies
Just gimme that length, that length, that length
That length, Siraj
Gimme that length
Siraj
Screw all the words, the poems, the songs
Just gimme lines, lines, lines
Lines, Siraj
Gimme those lines
Siraj
(However plausible this may sound, some of this is a work of fiction)
Does KL Rahul take himself too seriously?
Rain, abandonment, injury, Nepal, none of them could stall India’s progress into the Super 4s. More rain, near abandonment, injury, Dunith Wellalage couldn’t stall India’s progress into the Finals of the Asia Cup.
India meant business. This was evident when a team committed to resting and rotating its players made them play back-to-back matches. The two-day one-dayer was here. Kohli, KL, Bumrah were there too.
But KL and Bumrah were not always there. KL had a niggle, missed out on the first two matches. This brought on some obvious and some not-so-obvious criticism – is KL Rahul soft? Is he injury-prone? Is the rope given to him too long? But then KL Rahul’s ODI numbers are red hot. More so in the middle order, where he can be the custodian of both acceleration and sustenance. Not unlike KL, Shreyas Iyer too has compelling ODI numbers. His fitness, not unlike KL, isn’t too compelling either.
Was picking them both in the World Cup squad a mistake?
This opinion soon proved to be a mistake. Partly, however. KL Rahul returned with aplomb – and bombed the Pakistani bowlers. But Shreyas Iyer’s back spasm ruled him out of the first two Super 4 matches.
On the field, KL isn’t half as demonstrative as Kohli. This lack of exuberance can be often misconstrued. Then he makes comments such as, “strike rate is overrated”. They stick.
Yet behind the stumps, KL’s calls and inputs have been spot-on – though such is his demeanour, it puts forth the question, is KL overdoing the underdoing bit? The frontmen of team India are no less than rock stars in their own right.
Rohit, Virat, Hardik are more often swayed by Jadeja and Siraj’s antics and appeals than the evidence at hand. Going down leg, so what? Let’s shake a leg with Jaddu, he wants it so bad.
So while KL behind the stumps was against a review, so overcome with appeal-cheer was Rohit, he fully disregarded his stumper’s counsel. Come on, KL, you gotta sell yourself – and your opinion.
To his benefit, he did keep wickets after his 111 not out. That with the option of Ishan Kishan at hand. But then this is such clichéd healthy competition – a keeper batter with a double ton and a row of 50s breathing down your neck.
While KL’s ton against Pakistan earned him all the brownie points, it was his 39 against Sri Lanka that stood out. KL stood tall, his back-to-back boundaries against an unstoppable Dunith Wellalage were of the highest caliber.
Beyond KL’s batting, the question that remains is – how good is he as a wicketkeeper? Keeping to spin, KL may not appear to be the finished article; often fumbling, nowhere as articulate as Rishabh Pant but there are positives – his suggestions to Kuldeep Yadav (appeared to be regarding an outside off line) payed off. A no-fuss stumping followed.
That’s another thing, KL doesn’t appear to fuss about much. He went to the extent of saying that he was nervous on return. At least initially while batting.
What KL doesn’t do for himself, his PR does in spades. Prior to his return, when KL was warming up at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) – keeping, batting, looking his usual nonchalant self; it was conveyed in videos, photographs across social media. To his 8.2 million followers on X (formerly Twitter).
Often KL Rahul may appear to be the Cheteshwar Pujara of India’s white ball team. Going about his job, not making much of it. As with Pujara, injuries have often set KL’s career back.
While Pujara has made light of his twin knee surgeries and played over 100 Test matches, how far will KL go?
The answer may lie in whether he is prepared to sacrifice the longer format to lengthen his career? Close to 9 years after making his Test debut, India’s former stand-in captain has been superseded by others.
Today, Hardik Pandya is Rohit Sharma’s deputy. A fit again Jasprit Bumrah is next in the pecking order. Being away from the limelight could work for Rahul. And who knows, he may go for the kill again. Or Rahul going for the KL, now that’s a pun he won’t find funny.
KL Rahul is back.
From injury. From lack of form.
Into form.
Two innings, contrasting conditions, and the full gamut. He kept wickets. He kept to himself. At times he didn’t keep to himself. And that’s what stood out.
He initiated Kuldeep Yadav to bowl an outside off line, CRACKED and stumped He Counselled his captain not to take the review But he didn’t take KL Rahul. seriously
Why?
Does anyone take KL Rahul seriously?
Does KL Rahul take himself seriously?
Or does KL Rahul take himself too seriously?
Or just like strike-rate, is expression also overrated?
First published at cricket.com here
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