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Xtra Time Web Desk: Mohammed Siraj has been often trolled for being very expensive but on Wednesday night he showed he also has the potentiality of producing something brilliant like what he did on Wednesday night in the IPL 2020 game against Kolkata Knight Riders. He produced a brilliant spell of fast bowling, not giving any semblance of a clue to the KKR top order batsmen. He wrote his name in the record books by bowling two consecutive maiden overs inside the first Powerplay, a feat not achieved by anyone in the history of IPL. He returned with figures 4-2-8-3 including the wickets of Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana in successive deliveries.

RCB team management initially planned to open the bowling with Chris Morris and Washington Sundar. But Captain Virat Kohli changed his mind after seeing the Proteas fast bowler getting some movement. He immediately threw the ball at Siraj, who repaid the trust shown in him. Actually, Siraj was not in the thoughts of the team management as Shahbaz Ahmed was the first choice. But he was drafted in only after looking at the conditions, according to Mike Hesson, Director of Cricket at RCB.

The fast bowler from Hyderabad has come off age and has been ticking all the boxes so far in this season of IPL. It will not be surprising if the selectors pick him for the test squad to Australia later this year. He can fill up the fifth bowler’s slot along with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, andNavdeep Saini. He will have a stiff competition though from CSK’s Shardul Tahkur.

Son of an auto rickshaw driver, Siraj got hooked to the game while in class seven after he was part of the team that won an inter-school tournament. From then on, he would frequently skip classes to play tennis-ball cricket. His pace and an ability to take wickets in clumps meant he acquired a cult status in his mohalla in the Banjara Hills locality.  

A late bloomer in Indian cricket, Siraj was coached by Karthik Udupa. The 26 year old made his first class debut for Hyderabad in 2015-16 Ranji Trophy. He first burst into limelight when he guided his state side 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 coveted tournament. His biggest breakthrough in life came when he was picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping 2.6 crores ahead of IPL 2017. The following season he was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Having already made his debut in the shorter formats for India, the talented speedster will be hoping to breakthrough into the Indian test squad. With a deceptive run-up, Mohammed Siraj has the potentiality to be develop into a successful bowler across formats for India.