Like every Indian son, he also wanted to gift a house to his parents in a good locality. And now, after the Indian Premier League 2017 auctions, Mohammed Siraj will be having no problems to fulfil his and his parent’s dream as he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crores. An impressive performance in the recent List A season carved his way to the IPL and in the upcoming season, the entire world will witness his bowling skills under the captaincy of Aussie hard hitter David Warner.
After he was sold for an unbelievable price, Siraj remembered the moment when the cricket gave him his first salary. While speaking to the news agency PTI, he said, “I still remember the first income which I earned playing cricket. It was a club match which I played under my maternal uncle’s captaincy. I plucked 9 wickets after giving 20 runs in a 25 over inning. My uncle was so happy that he gave me Rs 500 as a prize. And today, when the bid was raised to INR 2.6 crore, I just ran out of words.”
Hailing from a lower middle-class family, he also told about the sacrifices made by his parents Mohammed Ghaus and Shabana Begum. “My father had worked extremely hard in the past but never let the financial pressure of the family affect me or my elder brother. Despite the bowling spikes cost too much, he made sure that I could get the best one and he bought the same for me. I was never interested in studies and my mother pushed me all the time giving my elder brother’s example who is working as a software engineer in a reputed firm. But now, all I want to buy a house for my family,” said Siraj.
Just like T Natarajan from Tamil Nadu, who was picked by the Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3.8 crore, Siraj also started his career with tennis ball cricket. Later, he played Hyderabad U22, Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare and then Ranji Trophy followed by India A. And now, after all these days of struggle, it will be a big plus for him to share the dressing room with VVS Laxman as a mentor, skipper David Warner and other experienced players.
