BENGALURU: It was a glorious return to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for Mohammed Siraj on Wednesday night. The venue had been his IPL ‘home’ for the past seven seasons with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), until the franchise unceremoniously let go of the star pacer at the mega auction last year. Added to that snub was the hurt of being kept out of Team India’s white-ball scheme of things — he was ignored for the Champions Trophy recently — and no wonder Siraj was itching to unleash his trademark ‘Siu’ celebration here at the venue in Gujarat Titans colours.
In the past, the celebration — inspired by his favourite footballer Cristiano Ronaldo — would often drown in the stadium’s din. On Wednesday, after his dismissal of Phil Salt, his chant reverberated around the Chinnaswamy, stunning the crowd into silence as the 31-year-old ripped through the RCB top-order.
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It was the perfect riposte to not only his old franchise but those who have doubted his credentials in the shorter formats. Siraj’s underwhelming performance (an economy rate of 8.81) at this venue was said to be one of the reasons he had to seek a new home with Gujarat Titans.
Wednesday’s 3/19 showed he had reinvented himself, and the effort even earned praise from RCB’s head coach Andy Flower.
“He bowled an outstanding spell with the new ball. His lines were really tight, his lengths were good and he threatened the stumps a lot. So, good on him,” Flower said.
Flower’s assessment reflects Siraj’s growth as a white-ball bowler. He hasn’t donned the Indian colours in limited-overs formats for more than seven months now but that hasn’t stopped him from knocking on the door.
Having started this IPL season on the wrong foot (0/54) against Punjab Kings, Siraj made amends when his team took on Mumbai Indians (2/34) before breathing fire against his former team -- RCB.
At the Chinnaswamy, which has a benign batting pitch that is unforgiving of even marginal errors, Siraj more than held his own. Barring a boundary by Virat Kohli and a Phil Salt six , both coming in the Powerplay, there weren’t any loose deliveries from the Hyderabadi. The only blip was a wide he bowled in the 19th over.
The fitter and fierier Siraj, dwelling on his second coming, said, “I had been playing consistently, but during the break I corrected my mistakes and worked on my fitness. Once I was picked up by Gujarat Titans, I spoke to Ashish bhai (Nehra, former India bowler and GT coach). He told me to go enjoy my bowling and Ishu bhai (Ishant Sharma) told me what line and length to bowl. My mindset is to have belief, and then the pitch does not matter.”
In the past, the celebration — inspired by his favourite footballer Cristiano Ronaldo — would often drown in the stadium’s din. On Wednesday, after his dismissal of Phil Salt, his chant reverberated around the Chinnaswamy, stunning the crowd into silence as the 31-year-old ripped through the RCB top-order.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
It was the perfect riposte to not only his old franchise but those who have doubted his credentials in the shorter formats. Siraj’s underwhelming performance (an economy rate of 8.81) at this venue was said to be one of the reasons he had to seek a new home with Gujarat Titans.
Wednesday’s 3/19 showed he had reinvented himself, and the effort even earned praise from RCB’s head coach Andy Flower.
“He bowled an outstanding spell with the new ball. His lines were really tight, his lengths were good and he threatened the stumps a lot. So, good on him,” Flower said.
Flower’s assessment reflects Siraj’s growth as a white-ball bowler. He hasn’t donned the Indian colours in limited-overs formats for more than seven months now but that hasn’t stopped him from knocking on the door.
Having started this IPL season on the wrong foot (0/54) against Punjab Kings, Siraj made amends when his team took on Mumbai Indians (2/34) before breathing fire against his former team -- RCB.
At the Chinnaswamy, which has a benign batting pitch that is unforgiving of even marginal errors, Siraj more than held his own. Barring a boundary by Virat Kohli and a Phil Salt six , both coming in the Powerplay, there weren’t any loose deliveries from the Hyderabadi. The only blip was a wide he bowled in the 19th over.
The fitter and fierier Siraj, dwelling on his second coming, said, “I had been playing consistently, but during the break I corrected my mistakes and worked on my fitness. Once I was picked up by Gujarat Titans, I spoke to Ashish bhai (Nehra, former India bowler and GT coach). He told me to go enjoy my bowling and Ishu bhai (Ishant Sharma) told me what line and length to bowl. My mindset is to have belief, and then the pitch does not matter.”
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