Rohit Sharma<\/a>\u2019s lavish praise on Mohammed Siraj calling him a \u2018rare talent\u2019, speaks of the phenomenal rise of the Hyderabad pacer. Since his Test debut in 2020, Siraj has grown by leaps and bounds and has been soaring to greater heights with each series.
However, no matter how high he soars and how much success he attains on the various cricket grounds across the world, the 28-year-old Hyderabadi has remained rooted and grounded to his first love – the Maidan. He is fiercely loyal to the ground in First Lancer, where he started playing the game with a tennis ball and doesn\u2019t miss an opportunity to spend time there whenever he is at home. Siraj has also not forgotten his childhood friends and makes sure that he catches up with them frequently.
The Indian team landed in the city last evening and though Siraj would have been tired after the Sunday night game and the subsequent travel, he turned up at the Maidan and spent an hour with his friends at the ground. It turned out to be a \u2018Chai pe charcha\u2019 session. On a cold late evening, the friends discussed nothing but cricket over piping hot Irani chai.
\u201cSiraj came to meet his friends and we spent an hour (from 9 pm to 10 pm) discussing his performance in the previous game where he took four wickets. He said that he went all out for the fifth wicket but unfortunately it didn\u2019t happen. Inshallah, he said, he hoped to get it soon,\u201d his closest friend Mohd Shafi told ToI on Tuesday.
Incidentally, Shafi was Siraj\u2019s captain when they used to play tennis ball cricket and the two are inseparable \u2013 brothers from different mothers. \u201cThere were around 15 of us last evening. Siraj never fails to meet his friends and spend time with them. He is still the same old Siraj and doesn\u2019t behave any differently though he is a cricket superstar now,\u201d Shafi said.
The friends are looking forward to watching Siraj play on home ground in the Indian jersey. \u201cI have watched all his IPL games here but seeing him in the Indian team jersey will be an altogether different feeling. International cricket has a different aura, and it is a dream for every cricketer to play for India. Though none of us could make a career out of cricket we are thrilled to see Siraj doing so well. He represents all the cricketers of the Maidan,\u201d Shafi said and added that more than a dozen friends will be in the stands cheering for him and hoping that Siraj gets his first ODI five-wicket haul on home ground.<\/p>\nSiraj\u2019s family too will be in attendance and the cricketer, himself, is thrilled about it. \u201cIt will be my first international match on home ground, and I look forward to it. I had played IPL games, but this will be different. My family will be there and so will my friends and it will be a happy feeling to be playing an international game in front of them,\u201d Siraj had remarked after the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka.
But the one person whom Siraj will be missing in the stands is his father \u2013 Mohammed Ghaus, who passed away in November 2020 when Siraj was in Australia. Without Ghaus’ support, Siraj wouldn\u2019t have been able to pursue cricket. <\/div>\n