India's fast bowler Mohammed Siraj is the talk of the town after his match-winning performance at Lord's. He bagged eight wickets in the match, and his four wickets in the second innings came at a crucial moment.
Siraj has been a well-known face ever since his appearance in the Indian Premier League. But the speedster got into the limelight for his performance after making his Test debut for India last year Down Under.
The 27-year-old had to go through a lot of struggles to get into the selection reckoning. Before making his Test debut, Siraj lost his father Mohammed Ghaus, who passed away in Hyderabad from a lung ailment.
The pacer couldn't go back home to attend the last rites of his father after his mother, Shabana told him to stay in Australia and fulfill the dream of his dad.
An excerpt from a new book on Indian cricket; ‘Mission Domination: An Unfinished Quest’, co-authored by Boria Majumdar and senior PTI sports journalist Kushan Sarkar, reveals that Siraj spent a day isolated and alone in the hotel room after losing his father.
Siraj's teammates tried to stay with him on video call after being not allowed to go into his room due to strict 14-day quarantine protocol in Australia. "Siraj had lost his father during the statutory period of 14 days hard quarantine in Australia in November. What this meant was that none of his teammates could even go to his room to give him a shoulder to cry on. At the time there were cops outside every room just in case the Indians tried to violate protocol. They were being guarded as prisoners who could export Covid to Australia!’ ‘As a result, his teammates were on video calls with him all day and were concerned he wouldn’t do something drastic or damaging to himself."
Only the physio could go to his room to treat him, and Nitin Patel used the window to go and console him in the tough time. "Siraj broke down on multiple occasions, which is only natural but never gave up. He was steadfast and resolute. He wanted to fulfill his father’s wish of doing his best for India and when the opportunity came his way at the MCG on the huge occasion of the Boxing Day Test, he just did not want to let it go."
Before his Test debut on Boxing Day, Siraj had played a few white-ball games for India without much success and wanted to make it count.
"In fact, he said to us he was abusing himself for failing and coaxed himself to push harder on debut. ‘I was telling myself that I had done nothing worthwhile in the white-ball games. And here are the same batsmen — Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, who I had bowled to and had success against while playing for India A. Then why couldn’t I do so at this stage? I had to. There was no turning back’."
"Siraj did not turn back. 13 wickets later he ended up as India’s highest wicket-taker. It was only fitting that his teammates handed him the tricolor during the team’s victory march. He was so much more than a cricketer. He was a young boy who had turned into a man in the course of the two months in Australia."
