“Talking to Jassi Bhai before the series helped me find form,” says Siraj

The 30-year-old endured a difficult home season, managing just two wickets in two Tests in India’s disastrous 3-0 loss to New Zealand before the tour Down Under, but returned to his best in the opening Test against Australia.

Siraj said it was a conversation with stand-in skipper and No. 1 Test bowler Bumrah before the tour that helped him make a comeback in the series opener in Perth, where India recovered from a first-innings slump Recovered 150 and scored a massive 295-run triumph.

“I always talk to Jassi Bhai (Bumrah),” Siraj said after India’s six-wicket win over the Australian Prime Minister’s team in a practice match here on Sunday.

“Before the first game I talked to him about what I was going through. And he just told me one thing: Don’t chase the wickets, just bowl consistently in one area and enjoy bowling. If you still don’t get wickets then come and ask me.

“So I enjoyed bowling and got wickets too,” he added.

Siraj also spoke to former India bowling coach Bharat Arun to help him find his centre.

“I spoke to Bharat Arun sir about this happening to me because he has known me for a while and has seen my bowling a long time ago. So he just told me to have fun and not chase wickets. Just enjoy it and you will get wickets.

“And before traveling, I met (fielding coach) Dilip Sir in Hyderabad and we also trained together. So it felt good and now I enjoy it.”

“Morne (Morkel, India’s current bowling coach) keeps telling me, ‘You are a warrior’. ‘You’ll get us wickets, but you just keep enjoying your bowling’.”

Siraj seemed to be in a good rhythm in the warm-up game against the Prime Minister’s team, which was his first game with a pink ball. He got the wicket of former Australian Test batsman Matthew Renshaw.

The second Test against Australia, a day-night match, begins in Adelaide from Friday. It would be the first time Siraj would bowl with the pink ball under lights.

“The (pink) ball has a synthetic feel, it is different from the red ball. The seam is very hard. It is bright and quite large. The more you practice with it, the better you get,” Siraj said.

“I think with the pink ball it is better to bowl the length back. Because when you throw it up, there’s not a lot of momentum, so the more you hit the deck and get it to seam, the better for us,” he noted.

“I’ve heard that the ball swings a lot under the lights, but I haven’t bowled with it under the lights yet. So when we go to Adelaide and train, we’ll try that. And the more practice we get, the more we will know more about what we need to do.