Team India pace bowler Mohammed Siraj recently revealed that it was emotional for him to leave the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ahead of IPL 2025 as well. However, Siraj was a part of the RCB team for seven years since joining them as a youngster in 2018. He made his IPL debut for the SunRisers Hyderabad in 2017 and then shifted to RCB the next year after RCB roped him in for ₹2.20 crore as well. He played 87 matches for the RCB and claimed 83 wickets with best figures of 4/21 as well.
“It’s a good feeling to join Gujarat ahead of the new season. Yeah, it was a bit emotional for me to leave RCB because Virat bhai had supported me a lot in tough times, but we have a fantastic team here under Gill,” Siraj told PTI via India Today.
The BCCI has also decided to allow bowlers to use their saliva to shine the ball from IPL 2025 onwards as well. It was banned from IPL 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as well.
Mohammed Siraj welcomed the move, saying (via the aforementioned report): “It’s very good for bowlers. It’s excellent news for us bowlers because when the ball is not doing anything, applying saliva on the ball will increase the chances of finding some reverse swing. It sometimes aids reverse swing because scrubbing the ball against the shirt will not help (to get reverse swing). But using saliva on the ball will help in maintaining (the shine on one side), and it is important.”
However, Mohammed Siraj was bought by the Gujarat Titans for a huge ₹12.25 crore at the mega auction after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) released him as well. He also admitted the tour of England and the Asia Cup are at the back of his mind, but stated that his focus is on IPL 2025.
“Look, selection is not in my hands. I have only a cricket ball in my hands and I wanted to do as much as I can with that. I don’t want to put pressure on myself thinking about selection, as I want to focus on my performance. Yeah aș a player, it remains in the back of your mind that there is a tour of England and the Asia Cup but I don’t really seriously think about it, as my focus is on IPL and doing well for Gujarat Titans and helping them win another IPL title,” he added.
“I have been playing for some years now, and usually, we don’t get that much rest. But now that I have got some time off, I have worked on my fitness and bowling skills. I have worked really hard with how to bowl with new and old balls, and I wanted to work on my slower balls and yorkers. This time I really used to work on those areas, and let’s how things pan out for me in this IPL,” Siraj added.
While speaking about replacing Shami, Siraj added his contributions to both India and Gujarat Titans as well.
“Shami bhai has done a lot for India and Gujarat Titans. His ability to generate swing, along with his wrist and seam position, is unmatched. But my job is to take wickets for the team. I am confident in my ability, as I’ve done it before. I’ve seen Shami bhai pick up wickets with the new ball at Motera, and I’ll also be looking to strike early in the Power Play,” Mohammed Siraj concluded.
