Mohammed Siraj: How a Hyderabad rickshaw driver's son made it to Team India
Mumbai: Hyderabad’s rookie pacer Mohammed Siraj’s dream finally came true on Monday, when he was selected in the 16-man squad for Virat Kohli-led India’s T20 series against New Zealand, staring next month.
Born to his parents Mohammed Ghaus and Shabana Begum, Siraj was earlier this year roped in by Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 2.6 crore ahead of the tenth edition, following a brilliant display during the first-class season.
Siraj had an IPL to remember, picking up 10 wickets in the six matches he played in.
The 23-year-old’s father is an auto driver, whereas his brother is a software engineer working in a good IT firm.
Siraj has had a successful first-class career so far, picking up 53 wickets from just 14 matches, including a best of 5-52 in an innings and a best of 9-116 in ban entire match.
Siraj, during his early days in cricket played with tennis ball, but then went on to take part in a lot of cricket tournaments, representing the Hyderabad U-22 team, and later on playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, Vijay Hazare trophy and the Ranji Trophy.
What followed his Ranji Trophy success was a deserved spot for the youngster in India A’s squad for the tri-series in South Africa, also featuring Afghanistan A.
He had a memorable tournament as he picked up five wickets from three matches, while India A went on to win the tournament, defeating South Africa A by seven wickets in the final.
On being selected to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Siraj had recalled playing cricket during his early days.
"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 had told PTI after the IPL auctions in February.
The Hyderabad youngster will hope to kickstart his international career when Virat Kohli’s Team India face off against Kane Williamson-led New Zealand in the first of the three T20s on November one at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, which is also pacer Ashish Nehra’s farewell match.
