"He has worked religiously in the nets, working on the outswinger" - Paras Mhambrey on Mohammed Siraj's white-ball emergence 

Team India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has heaped praise on Mohammed Siraj for his rise in white-ball cricket. The right-arm pacer has been in scintillating form, especially with the new ball, and is slowly evolving into a complete ODI bowler, which could help his case across formats soon, should he keep it up.

Since the start of 2022, he has claimed 38 wickets in 20 ODIs. The addition of a potent outswinger, coupled with his favored scrambled seam, has made a mockery of the opposition batters at times.

While his red-ball credentials were never questioned, he lacked variation with the white ball. However, he has made up for it with judicious use of both incoming and outgoing deliveries, a cross seam, and a venomous bouncer as well.

Noting that he had a conversation with Siraj over his white-ball bowling during the tour of England in July 2022, Mhambrey said in a pre-match interview ahead of India's third ODI against New Zealand:

"We had a conversation with Siraj in England, during the Test series and the white-ball series that we had. We sat down and discussed what are the other kind of things that we need to add, specifically to be successful with the white-ball as well. One of the points which came up was the outswinger, which he had earlier, but he lost it a little but while trying to work on other aspects, working on the cross seam and other kind of stuff."

Praising the manner in which Siraj has worked to hone his outswinger in the nets, Mhambrey continued:

"We discussed that we need to challenge the outer edge of the right-handed batter, to pick up more wickets. I'm very happy to see that he has transformed and worked on it, the credit should be given to him. He has worked religiously in the nets, working on the outswinger and which is paying dividends right now."

The Hyderabad-born pacer is making a serious charge towards the 2023 ODI World Cup squad with a stellar home season so far. In five ODI matches in 2023, he has taken 14 wickets at an economy rate of 3.83.

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"The change in the angle allows a bit more revs to the ball" - Paras Mhambrey on Kuldeep Yadav

Another candidate who has made a lasting impression with his recent performances is Kuldeep Yadav.

The left-arm wrist spinner has been a victim of poor team selection in the past but is likely to have a longer run due to his innate wicket-taking ability in the middle overs coupled with Yuzvendra Chahal's poor form.

Speaking about the changes that Kuldeep has made to his bowling, Mhambrey said:

"With Kuldeep, we spoke about the angle with which he approaches the crease. I thought initially he was a bit too wide of the crease. The change in the angle allows a bit more revs to the ball and the speed as well for him."

Noting that the third ODI between India and New Zealand is bound to be a high-scoring clash given the track record of the venue, Mhambrey concluded:

"We know that it is going to be a high scoring game, we played a T20 game here as well earlier. I think it is a lot about having clear clarity of the plans, what are you going to aim at and a lot about the execution as well."

Team India will lock horns with New Zealand in the final ODI of the series on Tuesday, January 24, at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.

The Men in Blue hold an unassailable 2-0 lead and could claim the No.1 ODI ranking if they complete a clean sweep.

Will Rohit Sharma and Co. wrap up the series in style? Let us know what you think.

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