Former Indian cricketer, , heaped praise on Gujarat Titans' Mohammed Siraj for his stellar bowling display against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Match 14 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. Notably, Siraj ended up with majestic figures of 3/19 in his first game against his former franchise.
Sehwag went so far as to say that the speedster could have possibly picked up another wicket had he not been taken off after bowling three overs on the trot within the powerplay.
“Siraj could've picked another wicket if he bowled four overs on a trot. He has that fire. And somewhere, I feel he is hurt, and I saw that fire in his performance and that’s what we expect from a young fast bowler,” shared Sehwag with Cricbuzz.
Notably, Siraj claimed the wickets of Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal within the powerplay. The second delivery of his final over (RCB's 19th) brought about the dismissal of Liam Livingstone. An extraordinary four-over spell by Siraj consisted of a total of 14 dot deliveries.
GT claimed a resounding victory over the hosts by an eight-wicket margin with 13 deliveries to spare. Siraj was preferred for the Player of the Match accolade instead of wicketkeeper-batter, Jos Buttler (73* off 39), due to his high impact spell during the first innings of the game.
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Siraj was with RCB for seven long seasons before being released by the franchise ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2025. The development came as quite a shock for the RCB supporters, most of whom were expecting the passionate pacer to be in the future plans of the franchise. Notably, Siraj was acquired by GT for INR 12.25 crore at the two-day mega auction in Jeddah.