BENGALURU (Reuters) -Mohammed Siraj went into this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) with difficult questions in his mind after the Indian seamer was released by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and dropped from the national team for their triumphant Champions Trophy campaign.
Four games into the Twenty20 league, Siraj is one of the top performers with nine wickets for his new team Gujarat Titans and is bowling with the speed and accuracy that made him a mainstay at both Bengaluru and the Indian team.
After going wicketless in his opening game, Siraj claimed 2-34 against Mumbai Indians, 3-19 against Bengaluru at the venue he called home for seven years and a match-winning 4-17 during Sunday’s seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“To be honest, I wasn’t able to digest it at first,” Siraj said of his exclusion from the Indian side earlier this year.
“I reached a point where I had to convince my mind that my cricket isn’t over and I have bigger dreams for the future.
“As a professional cricketer who is consistently playing for the Indian team you do get doubts if you are not in the team but I stayed positive and said this was not in my destiny.”
On Sunday, Siraj’s four-wicket haul in front of his family at his home ground in Hyderabad restricted the big-hitting hosts to 152-8 in 20 overs and Gujarat chased down their target with 20 balls to spare.
“I just worked on being ready for the IPL,” he added.
Only Chennai Super Kings spinner Noor Ahmed has taken more wickets than Siraj with 10 victims in four games.
India teammate and Gujarat captain Shubman Gill said bowlers like Siraj were “game-changers” in the shortest format.
“A lot of people talk about T20s, batting and hitting, and all of that, but we believe that matches are won by bowlers and hence there’s a lot of emphasis on bowling,” added Gill, who scored an unbeaten 61 in the chase.
“The energy that Siraj brings when bowling and fielding is infectious. When you’re playing against him, you definitely want that guy in your team. When he’s in your team, his energy on the ground is tremendous.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
