A few doubts were raised when India’s Champions Trophy 2025 lineup was announced when Mohammed Siraj couldn find a place. The 31-year-old formed a great team with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, so contributing significantly to India’s outstanding performance at the ODI World Cup 2023. Captain of Team India Rohit Sharma claimed that Siraj’s declining performance as the ball aged affected the decision to drop him.
Although IPL 2025 gave a chance to prove a point, Siraj was given the tough task of rising pack leader. Siraj was released by RCB for the IPL 2025 auction, where GT selected him for Rs 12.25 crore. After the Champions Trophy rejection, several doubted whether the pacer would be able to hold his own in a different surroundings.With nine wickets in four games, Siraj has replied in emphatic style and been superb.
Though the 31-year-old cricket player had grabbed 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. More than in the previous iteration, the pacer has registered six dismissals during the powerplay thus far in this edition.
Recording his best statistics in the IPL of 4/17, Siraj received the ‘Player of the Match’ award in GT’s most recent IPL 2025 game against SRH. Having registered a period of 3/19 in the previous encounter against his former team RCB, this represented the second consecutive occasion Siraj was selected the Player of the encounter. The first season in which the pacer has been selected twice the “Player of the Match” is IPL 2025.
“I first couldn’t absorb it. It does cross your mind whether you are good enough when you are not chosen for the Indian team, but Siraj wanted to be ready for the IPL.” remarked Siraj, talking about his perspective following the Champions Trophy reject. “You are on top when you are precisely doing what you want to. That feels different when the ball is listening to you and acting just as you want. I didn’t understand the blunders I was doing since I was regularly playing matches. I concentrated on my bowling throughout the break; today, the ball is being bowled beautifully.” he said.
The pacer’s present achievement can be mostly attributed to his relentless effort both generally and after being dropped. “Siraj said, ‘I could have participated in the Champions Trophy but I suppose they wish to let others game time. The close buddy of the cricket player Mohammed Kaleem remarked during an exclusive interview with Timesof India.com: “I will use this time to focus on my fitness and keep practicing’.”
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Hyderabad boasts two or three cricket grounds. He used to work on a specific area during the day and with a different set of skills late night. His bowler’s technique was especially under particular attention. As a cricketer, Siraj has always been somewhat bold and self- assured. Back in 2016-17, Muttiah Muralitharan and VVS Laxman had called him to a net session specifically to examine his potential and give SRH some thought as an addition. He advised KL Rahul to slow down contemplating the risk of injury after bowling bouncers at a very high speed, which made him worried. Siraj also got Virat Kohli out, which gained him respect in the later’s view. At that point, Siraj and I used to seat together at the entrance gate for net bowlers. But impressing Muralitharan and Laxman quickly landed him an IPL deal with SRH.,” he said.
The 31-year-old cricket player’s boyhood coach Kudaravalli Srinivas underlined even more Siraj’s mental change as a main contributor to his achievement.
“Siraj has always been someone who respects the superiors and implements team management or captain’s decision. Still, he was merely like a machine from past times, following directives. Now, after joining GT, Siraj has begun to consider his own as he understands he must survive by himself. His speed now picks up more. Siraj is often timing greater than 140 kph, said Srinivas.
“Siraj is focused on using the batters’ weaknesses as he understands all of them. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were dismissed on the powerplay with great impact since they lacked bandwidth to free their arms when you observed his spell against SRH. Once dropped for the Champions Trophy, Siraj was the top bowler in ODIs. That rejection set off a drive to become as best as possible.