Is Mohammed Siraj a Superstar? No, He’s Something Bigger — The Common Man’s Hero

There's a Mohammed Siraj in you. And me. For, he is not a superstar. He is just the commoner who always shows up.

India vs England, Test Series: The common man's hero that is Mohammed Siraj.

(Photo: BCCI)

Remember Rubens Barrichello? Yohan Blake? Ryan Lochte? Phil Mickelson?

Random names, perhaps. But they ring a bell, don’t they?

Let me jog your memory.

Barrichello raced for Ferrari in Formula 1 and holds the fourth-highest number of Grand Prix starts in history. Except — he could never be Michael Schumacher.

Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter, and has broken a world record or two. Except — he could never be Usain Bolt.

Ryan Lochte has nine Olympic medals in swimming. Except — he could never be Michael Phelps.

Phil Mickelson won six major championships in golf. Except — he could never be Tiger Woods.

Barrichello, Blake, Lochte and Mickelson — all greats in their own right — were never showstoppers. But here’s the real question: did they ever want to be?

Siraj — Who Never Stopped Burning

Every sport — whether individual or team — worships its superstars. The world understands the language of headlines. And for headlines, you need headliners.

But look at the macrocosm, and you will realise that the headliners are all but fleeting flashes of light in the night sky. Glimpses of brilliance amid monotony. Glorious? Certainly. But transient.

They don’t keep the sporting universe turning.

Who does, then? People like Barrichello, Blake, Lochte and Mickelson. The relentless. The tireless. The ones who always show up. Athletes who knew they may never be the face on the poster, yet they never stopped trying.

Mohammed Siraj was never meant to be a showstopper. Even now, as he basks briefly under the sun, he knows that it is borrowed light.

He does not burn the brightest. But he is the one who never stops burning.

To Be a Filler in Sports

The luxury of brilliance lies in its frequency. Or rather, in how little of it we’re allowed.

What’s special must be rare — that’s the very definition of it.

Once in a generation, a Virat Kohli will conquer an Under-19 World Cup, or a Jasprit Bumrah will command cricket’s gaze at 19.

Brilliance loses its lustre if it become routine. Imagine an ODI or a FIFA World Cup happening every year. Won’t feel the same, would it?

To sustain us between those rare spectacles, sport gives us its fillers.

Fillers like Mohammed Siraj.

The son of an auto driver who started playing only when he was 13, had not bowled a single delivery with the cork-and-leather ball till he was 21, and had not played a single Test match till he was 26.

What’s certain about the fillers, though, is that they show up. Persistently. Relentlessly. Come rain, come shine. Without headlines, without expectations. For, the headliners are irreplaceable. But the fillers? They are everywhere.

Easy to dispose.

And, how do you resist disposability? You give effort. All of it. Every single day, every single session. That is what Siraj did, and still does.

There’s a Mohammed Siraj in You. And Me.

The quiet tragedy of sport — and life — is this: by celebrating the extraordinary, we have learned to disregard the everyday. Fame is reserved for excellence, not for effort.

The very term ‘workhorse’ is coined as a consolation memento for those who were not remarkable enough. A participation trophy.

It is a trope, and precisely the trope that Siraj has had to carry ever since he made his debut for India.

So, who is Siraj?

There can be a couple of answers.

He is a ‘workhorse.’ Indeed, he is not a Kohli, neither is he a Bumrah. He is not the Rohit Sharmas and Shubman Gills of this world. He will run in, swing his arm over, burst his lung to generate as much pace as he can, and keep on doing it again and again.

But he is also you. And me.

He is your colleague — the one who is buried in spreadsheets and deadlines. He is the one running a tea stall next to it. He is the cab driver who gets you home. The security guard who opens your gate. The rider who delivers your food in the rain.

Siraj is the face of those reduced — yes, reduced — to being called just workhorses. As if working hard, day in and day out, through exhaustion and anonymity, isn’t the hardest thing in the world.

He is not special. Not excellent. Not a superstar. Not a headliner.

Just a normal, regular, workhorse. One who can never complain about work, cause how dare he?

No One Has Worked as Hard, and Numbers Show It

But now that — even if just for a fleeting moment — Mohammed Siraj finds himself under the spotlight, let’s talk not just about his 23 wickets in England that helped India level the series 2-2, but the weight he has carried to get here. The grind we all saw, but stayed mum about.

India have played 51 Test matches since Siraj made his debut in December 2020. And he has played 41 of those — most by any pacer, by far.

Most Tests by an Indian Pacer Since Siraj’s Debut:

• Mohammed Siraj — 41

• Jasprit Bumrah — 33

• Mohammed Shami — 14

• Shardul Thakur — 12

• Akash Deep, Umesh Yadav — 10

Naturally, he’s also bowled the most.

Most Test Overs by an Indian Pacer Since Siraj’s Debut:

• Mohammed Siraj — 1068.2

• Jasprit Bumrah — 1016.3

• Mohammed Shami — 419.1

• Shardul Thakur — 267

• Akash Deep — 256

And the numbers are not only restricted to Test cricket. Barring 41 Tests, he has also played 44 ODIs and 16 T20Is. Since 2021, no Indian pacer has had to toil as hard as him.

But don’t consider my words to be set in stone. Check some statistics for yourself.

Most overs by an Indian pacer (all formats) since 2021:

• Mohammed Siraj — 1398.3

• Jasprit Bumrah — 1222.0

• Mohammed Shami — 674.2

• Shardul Thakur — 519.0

• Hardik Pandya — 364.0

Even away from home, where conditions are tougher and bodies tire faster, Siraj has toiled.

Most overs in SENA countries by a subcontinent pacer (since 2021):

• Mohammed Siraj — 792.5

• Jasprit Bumrah — 788.0

• Ravindra Jadeja — 463.3

• Mohammed Shami — 362.1

• Asitha Fernando — 296.5

But What About Effectiveness, You Might Ask?

But what will merely showing up do, if you are not good at what you do? The question is undisputed, as is Siraj’s efficacy across all formats.

India in Tests With Siraj (Since His Debut):

• Matches — 41

• Won — 22

• Lost — 15

• Drawn — 4

• Win Percentage — 53.7%

India in Tests Without Siraj (Since His Debut):

• Matches — 10

• Won — 4

• Lost — 3

• Drawn — 3

• Win Percentage — 40%

But cricket is a team sport, so a team’s success reflects more on the collective, right?

Right. And hence, here are some individual numbers:

Most Test Wickets in a Winning Cause by an Indian Pacer (Since Siraj’s Debut):

• Mohammed Siraj — 76

• Jasprit Bumrah — 49

• Akash Deep — 20

• Mohammed Shami — 18

• Umesh Yadav — 14

Most Wickets Across All Formats by an Indian Pacer Since 2021:

• Mohammed Siraj — 136

• Jasprit Bumrah — 119

• Arshdeep Singh — 94

• Mohammed Shami — 91

• Hardik Pandya — 77

Let Siraj Be the Common Man’s Hero

What do the numbers show us? That, Siraj bowling 185.3 overs in England, being the only pacer to have bowled in all ten innings, and being the leading wicket-taker were not a collection of anomalies. It is, in fact, routine.

Siraj’s brilliance has been routine. Just that it was never celebrated enough. He has had to live with the trope of a workhorse. The disparage of an also-ran. And now, finally, at 31, he has his moment under the sun.

Let the headline writers make room for him. Let the broadcasters roll the highlight reels.

But when the party ends and the lights dim, let him return to the ordinary.
Because in that ordinary lives something heroic.

In Siraj lives you. And me. And everyone who keeps showing up.
Let him remain the common man’s working-class hero.