'People said go drive autos with your father, thought that's the end of my career' - Mohammed Siraj recalls disastrous IPL season with RCB

Mohammed Siraj might be one of the best bowlers, not only for his IPL side RCB but also for the Indian team. He was one of the three players who were retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore along with Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell. However, it was not long ago when Siraj feared for the worst in his career.

Even though the pacer made a bright start to his IPL career with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, things started to go south when he was picked by RCB. The worst season for Siraj came in 2019 when the young quick finished with an economy of 9.55 and took a mere seven wickets.

Things hit rock-bottom for Siraj in a fixture against the KKR in 2019 when the Hyderabad-born pacer conceded five sixes in his spell and returned with figures of 36 runs in 2.2 overs. To further the misery, Siraj had to be taken out of the bowling attack for bowling two beamers.  He had also dropped Chris Lynn early in the chase and RCB went on to lose the game despite having scored 205 batting first.

Mahi bhai told me not to listen what people had to say about me: Mohammed Siraj

“When I bowled those two beamers against KKR, people said ‘quit cricket and go back and drive autos with your father’,” Siraj told The RCB Podcast.

“There were so many such comments. And people don’t see the struggle behind all this. But I remember when I first got selected how Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni] told me to not listen to everything the people have to say about me. ‘You do well today and they’ll praise you and when you don’t the same people will abuse you. So don’t ever take it seriously.’ And yes, the same people who trolled me incessantly back then say ‘you’re the best bowler bhai’. So, I know. I don’t want anybody’s opinion. I’m the same Siraj I was back then.”

“2019 the performance with RCB was so bad that I thought that’s the end of my IPL career,” he said. “But then I realized that I still have age on my side. So I decided to trust myself a bit and thankfully the RCB management also backed me a lot at that time. I almost thought any franchise in their position would have let go of a bowler after that kind of performance, but they backed me, and then 2020 the game against KKR was a life-changing game for me.”

Things started changing for Siraj soon. He redeemed himself in the 2020 season, incidentally against the same opposition when he tore apart the KKR top-order returning with figures of 3-8 from four overs, becoming the first bowler to bowl two maiden overs in a fixture. Following an impressive IPL 2020, Siraj was handed his Test debut during India’s victorious tour down under, where he recorded an incredible fifer in India’s famous victory at Gabba.