'There is no help for bowlers': Mohammed Siraj blames smaller grounds and flat wickets

NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj expressed frustration over the challenging conditions for bowlers in T20 cricket, lamenting the lack of assistance from smaller grounds and flat pitches.
Siraj highlighted the trend of teams consistently surpassing the 250-run mark in this IPL season, a testament to the ultra-aggressive batting approach and the influence of the 'Impact player' rule.
With batsmen capitalising on favourable conditions, bowlers face an uphill battle in containing high-scoring totals. Siraj's remarks shed light on the evolving dynamics of T20 cricket, where batsmen hold the upper hand in exploiting conducive playing surfaces to set daunting targets.
"See, nowadays cricket is really different, now 250-260 is made in every second match, earlier 250 was a rare thing," said Siraj after RCB overhauled the 201-run target set by Gujarat Titans in 16 overs in Ahmedabad.
"There is no help for bowlers, there are smaller grounds and flat wickets, there is no swing in the ball, so lots of changes. Bowlers can just keep playing and keep getting hit."
Life has indeed been challenging for bowlers, particularly in this IPL season, as teams prioritise aggressive batting to maintain high run-rates throughout the innings, even beyond the powerplay overs.
"As a bowler, you have to keep the self-belief. I have seen lots of ups and downs in life, so I don't give up if 1-2 matches don't go my way. I look for a comeback," Siraj said.
"After one month, there is the World Cup... so I tell myself that if I get hit on a good ball, it is fine but I need to keep bowling less bad balls. I have not really bowled too badly this IPL, now 40 runs (in quota of four overs) is normal in T20 cricket."
Siraj, with six wickets in nine IPL games this season, acknowledged the significant role of luck in T20 cricket.
"T20 is all about luck, you don't get a wicket with good balls and sometimes even a full toss gets you a wicket. so luck matters a lot. I keep working on my flaws during training.
"My mindset is always like I am the best bowler, when I go to the field, my attitude and mindset remains the same and it helps in my execution."

Despite Gujarat Titans enduring their third loss in four games, Sai Sudharsan maintained that there are no glaring issues within the team. However, he emphasised the critical importance of winning all remaining matches to bolster their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
"I don't think many things are going wrong. As a team we are doing well, definitely. It's just the result. If we had won this game, maybe many things would have been good. Getting better and just showing up (for) the next game is what is very important," said Sudharsan, who hit a 49-ball 84.
GT are now at seventh place with eight points in the IPL standings.
"I think winning all the games is the only possibility which we can see. But I think taking it game by game, just getting better from this game. There were many positives from this game as well. Thinking of qualifying is a little longer. So, we just have to play the way we want."
The left-handed batter said the pitch eased out with time which helped RCB chase down the target without much ado.
"Like 10-15 overs after when we were batting, it got a little better because when we started to play, the wicket was q little damp but eventually it got better under the lights. It remained the same, obviously, during the RCB's innings as well."
(With PTI inputs)