Mohammed Siraj from Telangana has emerged as one of the most exciting players in the Indian domestic cricket circuit, having recently made his mark with a brilliant first class season. His excellent run of form saw him earn call-ups to the India A and Rest of India sides.
Now Siraj landed a whopping Rs. 2.6 crore deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL 2017 player auction in Bengaluru. Having come from a humble economic background, the right-arm speedster aims to buy a house in a good Hyderabad locality for his parents Mohammed Ghaus and Shabana Begum.
“Today, I remember my first income playing cricket. It was a club match and my maternal uncle was the captain of the team. I got 9 wickets for 20 odd runs in that 25 over game. My uncle was so happy he gave me Rs 500 as a prize. It was a great feeling. But today when the bid was raised to Rs 2.6 crore, I just went numb,” Siraj told media during an interaction from Hyderabad.
“My parents have seen hard days. Today my elder brother is a software engineer in a reputed IT firm. I didn’t have interest in studies and my mother would bash me up giving my elder brother’s example. But today she’s on top of the world,” said Siraj.For him, the progress was a gradual one.
“Since I started from tennis ball cricket, I am self taught. I had pace but tennis ball cricket teaches you to bowl in blockholes. Then I played Hyderabad U22, Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare and then Ranji Trophy followed by India A. I have taken one step at a time. Next is IPL followed by senior national team,” said Siraj.
Sharing the dressing room with VVS Laxman as mentor and captained by David Warner is a big plus.
Lets hope he further makes Hyderabad, Telangana and India proud.
