Courtesy: BCCI
India pacer Mohammed Siraj has countered Rohit Sharma’s statement about him made before the iCC Champions Trophy 2025. On Siraj’s exclusion from India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad, the 37-year-old had emphasised on the pacer’s struggle to scalp wickets with the old ball. Instead of Siraj, Team India management trusted left-handed pacer Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana to bolster India’s pace attack with the fast-bowling spearhead Mohammed Shami. The management’s decision proved right as Harshit delivered thrifty and wicket-taking spells to the team in his two outings.
However, Siraj has retorted to Rohit’s claims and spoken facts. "I have taken the most wickets with the old ball in the past year among the world's ten fastest bowlers. My economy rate is also low. The numbers speak for themselves. I have performed well with both the new and old ball," said Siraj while addressing a press conference ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 edition.
Prior to the Champions Trophy team announcement, Siraj was struggling a bit to be among the wickets. Noting his decline, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) excluded Siraj from the squad for the massive ICC event. Rohit said the team had no option but to leave out the speedster.
Siraj will look to be impactful for GT in IPL 2025
After getting released from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) before the IPL 2025 auction, Siraj was roped in by Gujarat Titans (GT) for a lucrative sum of INR 12.25 crore at the business event held in Jeddah in November 2024. The speedster’s job will be to fortify Gujarat’s pace attack along with big names Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Gerald Coetzee, and Prasidh Krishna.
GT will want the 31-year-old to deliver wickets in the first powerplay. Siraj will be looking to do wonders with the ball for the Titans to return to India’s ODI team. With the T20 World Cup 2026 only 11 months away, Siraj’s objective will be to be disciplined with the ball to feature in India’s squad for the colossal ICC competition to be held in India and Sri Lanka.
