Indian right-arm pacer has enjoyed a starry rise in international cricket in recent times while he is now a key factor for team India and IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Indian star player Mohammad Siraj has enjoyed a starry rise in international cricket in recent times. While making his debut in international cricket in 2017, he was in and out of the team before getting a regular extent of games, particularly in tests, over the past few months.
An unknown quantity before the 2016-17 season, Mohammad Siraj, made a name for himself as he guided Hyderabad to a quarter-final finish in the Ranji Trophy, taking 41 wickets from nine matches and finishing as the third leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
The right-arm pacer is now a key factor for team India and IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He was recently retained by RCB in the IPL mega auction.
In a recent discussion on the RCB podcast, Siraj recently recalled his humble origins and revealed a story from his younger days about convincing his family to let him pursue cricket.
Royal Challengers Bangalore trying to form a new team identified Siraj’s talent and went after him in the 2018 IPL auctions. They beat four other franchises to land Siraj at Bangalore for INR 2.6 crore. He did not start the first few games but once picked he became Kohli’s go-to death bowler and ended the season with 11 scalps.
“My mom and dad were arguing about me at home – about whether I should study or do a job. My mother’s brother had a club team. My mom told him that I am very fond of cricket and that I don’t study or do anything else and only like to play,”
Siraj reminisced.
“So my uncle said, ‘I have a club; come and play for it. We will see how it goes.’ I agreed to come,”
he added.
“In the first match I played, I picked nine wickets. My uncle was shocked. ‘You play so well,’ he told me. Then he told my parents, ‘Don’t make him study. Let him do what he wants to. I will back him.’ It was then that I got five hundred rupees. I gave Rs 300 to my family and kept the remaining Rs 200 with myself,”
Siraj said.
