The Indian Premier League is one of the most-watched cricket leagues in the world and garnered a lot of popularity ever since its inception in 2008. The league has allowed a lot of youngsters to play international cricket and has revolutionized the sport. IPL has over time has become given a platform to encourage young talents and exposure for the International standards early in their career and give them a hope that one day they will be able to represent Indian team.
Today we will talk about humble beginnings of Mohammed Siraj’s journey from tennis-ball cricket to Boxing Day debut. He was passionate about the game of cricket and comes from very humble background. His father was his inspiration and an auto rickshaw driver, the whole family had to go through a lot of hardship. it will shock to learn that the talented blower has never gone to a professional cricket academy nor had a coach. He honed his skills by playing street cricket with a tennis ball and used to often bunk classes to play the sport.
The constant good performance in the Ranji Trophy didn’t go unnoticed and was soon picked up by Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping Rs. 2.6 crore which was surprisingly 13 times his base price. He made his IPL debut in 2017, playing 6 matches and picked 10 wickets at an average of 21.2, with the best performance of 4/32. He is known for his deceptive slower ball and a natural in-swinger make him make an impact in the tournament. But despite his good performance, he was released by the club and was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL 2018 Player Auction for INR 2.20 crore and the management saw potential in the youngster.
Mohammed Siraj has had a dream Test debut but it wasn’t an easy journey as he had overcome the death of his father to stay on in Australia. He made a tough call to stay back and when he got an opportunity, he made it count. In the absence of experienced Indian pacers, the Hyderabad bowler has led the bowling attack from the front in the ongoing 4th Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has taken prized wickets of Australian bowler Josh Hazelwood to complete a memorable five-wicket haul in Tests.
He finished his spell of 5/73 on Day 4 at the Gabba in Brisbane. Siraj has etched his names in the history books by becoming only the fifth Indian bowler to pick up a 5-wicket haul at the Gabba and joins elite list of bowlers such as Erapalli Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan Lal and Zaheer Khan.
Another interesting fact of all the cricket lovers, this is the also the first time since 2008 Australia have been bowled out in both the innings of a Test in Gabba and only the 3rd time since 1987. This is a remarkable feet achieved by the Team India in the absence of their 5 first-choice bowlers for the 4th Test. During the second innings, Siraj wasn’t in good frame of mind as dropped 2 catches of Steve Smith and Cameron Green earlier in the day.
But he bounced back and picked up 2 wickets in the same over in the first session to bring India back into the game. Siraj got the wicket of inform batsman Marnus Labuschagne to open his tally and next victim was Matthew Wade for 0 in the same over. Siraj went on take the wicket Steve Smith for 55 with a superb delivery.
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