I Have Been Practicing A Lot With The New Ball: Mohammed Siraj

Royal Challengers Bangalore seamer Mohammed Siraj put up a stunning bowling performance against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi. Mohammed Siraj proved all his critics wrong with his superlative display, killing the game for Kolkata Knight Riders in favour of his side. Following receiving the man of the match award for his magnificent spell of bowling, Siraj thanked the almighty for the same.

Mohammed Siraj came to bowl in the second over, sharing the new ball with Chris Morris. Mohammed Siraj struck twice in the over, sending back Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana for a golden duck. The Knight Riders’ batsmen got strangled then and there and could not recover from that burst. In his next, the right-arm seamer accounted for Tom Banton, who came in for Andre Russell, and smashed a four and a six.

The two-time champions could manage only 84 in their 20 overs for the loss of eight wickets. Skipper Eoin Morgan dragged to top-score with 30, consuming 34 deliveries for the same and kept running out of partners. Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal made the game their own in six overs, building a stand of 46. Virat Kohli and Gurkeerat Singh stayed till the end to script a comprehensive victory by eight wickets.

“Executed exactly what I had planned” : Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj, who finished with figures of 4-2-8-3, began by thanking the almighty for the performance and then Virat Kohli for trusting him with the new ball. The 26-year old conceded having practising plenty with the new ball; however, it was a spontaneous move to open the bowling with him. He pointed out that the ball to Nitish Rana, hitting the off-stump was executed perfectly.

“First I want to thank Allah for my performance. Then thanks to Virat for giving me the new ball. I have been practising a lot with the new ball. We hadn’t planned that I will open but when we went out, Virat bhai said Miyan ready ho jao. [Sir, get ready.]. The ball to Rana was very good. Executed exactly what I had planned,” Siraj told in the post-match presentation.

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