New Delhi: The announcement of India’s squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 raised a few eyebrows as Mohammed Siraj failed to find a spot. The 31-year-old played a crucial role in India’s brilliant display during the ODI World Cup 2023, forming an excellent partnership with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Team India captain Rohit Sharma stated that the decision to drop Siraj was influenced by his reduced effectiveness as the ball got older.
While IPL 2025 provided an opportunity to prove a point, Siraj was presented with the stern challenge of emerging as a leader of the pack. RCB opted to release Siraj for the IPL 2025 auction where he was picked by GT for Rs 12.25 crore. There were questions over whether the pacer would be able to hold his own in a new environment, after the Champions Trophy snub.Siraj has responded in emphatic fashion and been excellent, accounting for nine wickets in four matches.
While the 31-year-old cricketer had picked 15 wickets at an average of 33.07 and an economy rate of 9.19 in the previous season, he has already recorded nine dismissals at an average of 13.78 and an economy rate of 7.75 in IPL 2025. The pacer has also registered six dismissals during the powerplay so far in this edition which is more than his tally during the powerplay in the previous edition.
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Siraj won the ‘Player of the Match’ award in GT’s most recent IPL 2025 match against SRH, recording his best figures in the IPL of 4/17. This marked the second consecutive instance where Siraj was named the Player of the Match, having registered a spell of 3/19 in the previous match against his old team RCB. IPL 2025 marks the first season where the pacer has been named the ‘Player of the Match’ twice.
“I could not digest it initially. When you are not selected in the Indian team, it does cross your mind whether you are good enough, but I wanted to be ready for the IPL,” said Siraj while discussing his mindset after the Champions Trophy snub. “When you are executing exactly what you want to do, that is when you are on top. When the ball is listening to you and doing exactly what you want, that gives a different feeling. I was playing matches consistently, so I didn’t realise the mistakes I was making. I focussed on my bowling during the break and the ball is being bowled nicely now,” he added.
One major factor behind the pacer’s current success is the hard work through thick and thin after being dropped. “Siraj said, ‘I could have played in the Champions Trophy but I guess they want to give game time to others. I will use this time to focus on my fitness and keep practicing’,” said the cricketer’s close friend Mohammed Kaleem during an exclusive interaction with TimesofIndia.com.
“There are two to three cricket grounds in Hyderabad. He used to work on a particular aspect during the day and a different skill set during the night. There was specific focus on improving his technique as a bowler. Siraj has always been quite fearless and confident as a cricketer. Muttiah Muralitharan and VVS Laxman had invited him to a net session back in 2016-17 just to see his potential and consider him as an addition to SRH. He bowled bouncers at a very high pace to KL Rahul who got scared and asked him to slow down considering the risk of injury. Siraj also managed to dismiss Virat Kohli which earned him respect in the latter’s eyes. I and Siraj used to sit together at the entry gate for net bowlers at that point. However, impressing Muralitharan and Laxman soon earned him an IPL contract with SRH ,” he added.
The 31-year-old cricketer’s childhood coach Kudaravalli Srinivas further highlighted Siraj’s mental transformation as a major factor behind his success.
“Siraj has always been someone who respects the seniors and follows the decision of the captain or team management. However, he was just like a machine earlier who would simply follow orders. Now, Siraj has started thinking on his own after joining GT as he knows that he has to survive by himself. His pace has increased. Siraj is clocking more than 140 kph consistently,” stated Srinivas.
“Siraj knows all the weaknesses of the batters and is focused on exploiting them. If you see his spell against SRH, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma didn’t get bandwidth to free their arms, leading to their dismissal in the powerplay which left a huge impact. Siraj was the number one bowler in ODIs when he was dropped for the Champions Trophy. That snub triggered a desire to improve and excel as much as possible,” he added.
Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India, including match schedules, team squads, points table and IPL live score for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Don’t miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap.
