Mohammed Siraj Has Turned the Powerplay Into Gujarat Titans’ Greatest Strength in IPL 2026

Mohammed Siraj loves a bit of fun. In Dharamsala, where Gujarat Titans will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1, he was the self-appointed team photographer — insisting colleagues move slightly left or slightly right depending on the light, obsessed with finding the perfect frame.

The symbolism was hard to miss. Because Siraj, with the new ball, has had as close to a perfect season as a powerplay bowler can produce in the IPL.

The Numbers That Define a Career-Best Campaign

The statistics from Siraj’s 2026 campaign are the clearest measure of how complete his resurgence has been.

Thirteen powerplay wickets — the third-most in IPL 2026 behind Kagiso Rabada and Bhuvneshwar Kumar — represents the most Siraj has ever taken in this phase across a single season. These numbers have contributed directly to Gujarat Titans picking up the most wickets of any bowling unit in the tournament this season (79).

GT’s powerplay economy rate of 9.2 is the best of any team in the competition in this phase. When they have taken at least two wickets in the first six overs, they have won eight of nine matches. Much of that structure flows from Siraj.

The Partnership: Siraj and Rabada

A significant portion of Siraj’s effectiveness has come from the dynamic he shares with Kagiso Rabada at the top of the attack. GT assistant coach Vijay Dahiya was candid about how central that partnership has been.

“The chemistry between the two is phenomenal, not only on the field, but off the field as well,” Dahiya said. “They understand each other. Not only mentally, but skill-wise as well. They understand the game very well — how the game is going and what they need to do. They understand how to finish their overs to help their partner. Normally, when you talk about a partnership, it mostly goes with batting. But I think they have a very, very good bowling partnership.”

Dahiya also credited head coach Ashish Nehra for managing two very different characters with contrasting backgrounds and experiences.

“Different characters, come from different environments, come from different team environments. But both of them are top-class bowlers and they do complement each other really, really well.”

The structure around them has made Siraj’s attacking brief possible. With Jason Holder providing control through the middle overs and Rashid Khan squeezing scoring with his wrist spin, captain Shubman Gill has been able to hand Siraj a simple, aggressive mandate: take wickets with the new ball, even if it occasionally costs runs. Few captains give a fast bowler that kind of trust unless they have absolute confidence in his ability to break games open. Siraj has rewarded that trust consistently.

The Spells That Defined the Season

Several individual moments have crystallised just how commanding Siraj has been in IPL 2026.

Against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, he was hit for six first ball by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi — treatment the 15-year-old has previously handed to Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, and Lungi Ngidi. What happened next spoke volumes about Siraj’s current state of mind.

He responded with a pinpoint yorker. The late tail-in hit Sooryavanshi flush on the toe, leaving him hobbling. Then came a bumper that cramped him for room — the miscued pull lobbed straight to short fine leg. Siraj’s roar and celebration at getting one back on the teenage sensation was the release of a bowler completely in command of his craft.

Against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk last week, the conviction was equally vivid. First ball to Sanju Samson: outswinger, edge, gone. After being named Player of the Match for his three-for that ended CSK’s chase and their campaign, Siraj remarked almost casually that on a red-soil pitch, getting Samson to nick an outswinger was “the perfect formula.”

“Bowlers only speak that way when they feel completely in sync with their craft,” is how one observer framed it — and the observation is accurate. There is a conviction in Siraj’s bowling right now that had briefly deserted him in previous seasons.

The Contrast With Where He Was

What makes this resurgence most striking is the distance between the current Siraj and the version of himself that existed not long ago.

In 2024 — his final season with RCB — he managed just three wickets in the powerplay while conceding close to ten runs per over in that phase. For a bowler expected to generate control and early breakthroughs, particularly at the Chinnaswamy where early wickets are often the only realistic path to restricting teams, those returns were underwhelming.

RCB’s decision to retain Yash Dayal ahead of Siraj at the mega auction was not entirely surprising from a tactical standpoint — but it clearly stung. In his first season with GT in 2025, Siraj produced a match-winning spell at the Chinnaswamy against his former side that visibly meant a great deal to him. He finished with nine powerplay wickets that year. But even then, the impression was of a bowler still rebuilding confidence after an up-and-down Test tour of Australia that had preceded the IPL.

This season has felt categorically different.

What’s Changed: The Craft Behind the Numbers

The improvement is visible in the mechanics. Siraj is bowling fuller lengths than he was in his inconsistent periods. The ball is moving later. The venom and seam carry that make him so difficult to face on surfaces offering even marginal assistance are back in full force.

In conditions like Dharamsala — cooler temperatures, rarified air, and whatever the pitch provides — his seam movement could be the decisive factor in Qualifier 1 against RCB. There is an irony in Siraj potentially ending the season of his former club at the venue where he was snapping photographs of teammates just days ago.

“The kind of character that he is, channelising all his energy towards one goal,” Dahiya said. “And he’s got a very able partner on the other end as well.”

The energy has been channelled with remarkable efficiency. His first spell in each match has become an event — an extended advertisement for what happens when a world-class fast bowler is operating with full confidence, a clear role, and the tactical freedom to attack.

Everything is looking picture-perfect. The framing is exactly right.

Read More: How Royal Challengers Bengaluru Reinvented Themselves Into Champions

FAQs