RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj opened up on his reaction when SRH acquired his services for a whopping 2.6- crores in the IPL 2017 auctions. For the unversed, Siraj comes from a humble economic background & he got overwhelmed when his services were bought for such a huge amount in the IPL auctions. He further said that he was happy when RCB first raised the paddle for Siraj in the auctions.
“My name came up in the auction. No one raised their paddle for ten seconds, and then I thought to myself ‘It’s over, forget it.’ Suddenly RCB raised the paddle and just with that I left the house with the happiness of being selected in the IPL,” Siraj told in an interview on ‘Breakfast with Champions’.
“After that, when the media asked me ‘You got selected for INR 2.6 crore, how happy are you?’, I looked all around and then asked ‘Seriously? I got a price of INR 2.6 crore?!’. All I wanted was to get selected and did not bother which team but was thankful that I got selected,” he added.
What advice Yuvraj gave to Mohammed Siraj before his debut
The pacer made his debut in the IPL 2017 for SRH in their fixture against Delhi Daredevils on April 19, 2017. He also shared a memory of his debut fixture by saying that he got overwhelmed by the ambience at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, despite getting the prized scalps of Sanju Samson and Sam Billings.
Siraj then returned with figures of 2-39 in his spell of four overs at an economy of 9.75. He also shared the fact that India’s former player Yuvraj Sigh was the one who asked him to keep his calm & just enjoy his debut match.
“In my first match, I dismissed Sanju (Samson) and Sam Billings. However, I did give around 40-odd runs. I was playing for the first time in front of a packed ground, I cannot forget that even now. The nervousness and pressure that is often talked about, I felt it on that day,” he told.
“Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) pa was there near point, and he kept telling me ‘Don’t worry, it’s okay if they hit a four. It’s your first match, so enjoy,” shared Siraj.
Mohammed Siraj has played 76 matches in his IPL career scalping 74 wickets at an average of 30.65 with his individual best figures being 4-21. He has played for two IPL teams so far since making his debut. He has first played for SRH in IPL 2017 & then in 2018 he was bought by RCB. After moving to RCB he has became an integral part of the franchise & scalps crucial wickets for them. In IPL 2023 RCB retained his services for 7 croes. On May 2023 he played his last IPL fixture against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India, and had bowling figures of 31/0.
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