Mohammed Siraj’s fiery spell against Kolkata Knight Riders was arguably among the best individual moments of the season. The Royal Challengers bowled historic two consecutive maidens and scalped three KKR batsman to retain a 4-2-8-3 bowling figure as RCB ultimately took the game with eight wickets.
However the 26-year-old pacer revealed he wasn’t really in a positive frame of mind going into the game as his father Mohammed Ghaus was admitted into a hospital in Hyderabad a day prior to the game, sending Siraj into an emotional turmoil.
“Dad was admitted to hospital a day before the match so I was really concerned. However when I called home after the match, I was really surprised to hear that dad was home and that made me more happy that another good news after we winning the match against KKR,” Siraj said while speaking on RCB’s official YouTube channel.
“He even told me happily that people having calling him whole day that your son has done so well in IPL and all the newspapers in Hyderabad have your photo,” he said.
To jog readers’ mind, Siraj blast into the scene with Sunrisers Hyderabad buying the local youngster for Rs 2.6 core in IPL 2017 auction. The news made headlines as the pacer comes from a poor family with his father being an auto rickshaw driver.
During the conversation, the pacer recalled his early under-23 days when he was granted a pocked money of Rs 70 everyday by his father as he went for practice and matches on his scooty.
“Father used to give me a pocket money of Rs 70 everyday so that I could go and train or play matches. It meant a lot that he could give me whatever he could from little he earns. Of those 70, 60 bucks went for buying petrol for my scooty but it was enough for me because I knew where I came from,” he said.
