‘Siraj has that fire, he is hurt’: Virender Sehwag on pacer’s performance vs RCB | Cricket News

An emotional Mohammed Siraj returned to M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday to claim three crucial wickets against his former side Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Gujarat Titan’s eight-wicket victory. After seven long years as an RCB player, Siraj is now in the Gujarat Titans camp in IPL 2025. RCB had allowed Siraj to walk away ahead of the IPL auctions. “RCB will always have a piece of my heart,” he had said on an Instagram post.

On Wednesday, he did his best to remind his former team what he brings to the table. He bowled three overs on the trot at the start of the RCB innings, where he gave away just 15 runs and secured three wickets with an economy rate of just 4.75. “Siraj could have picked another wicket if he bowled four overs on a trot,” remarked former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag on Cricbuzz before praising Siraj’s ability to make an impact with the new ball.

After being RCB’s pace spearhead for seven long seasons, not being retained by them ahead of IPL 2025 would have been rankling the pacer. The 31-year-old was also left out of India’s Champions Trophy team earlier this year.
“He has that fire. And somewhere, I feel he is hurt, and I saw that fire in his performance and that’s what we expect from a young fast bowler,” Sehwag added.

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Siraj claimed the critical wickets of Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal and Liam Livingstone on Wednesday.

Following the win, Siraj also reflected on his break from international cricket, stating that it had given him the time to work on his bowling and fitness. “I was playing matches consistently, so was not realising the mistakes I was making. In the break, I focused on my bowling, on my fitness,” Siraj said.