Apparently, Mohammed Siraj of Star India was in top form during the Gujarat Titans‘ practice match. A video posted by the team on Thursday showed him bowling great, making it hard for the other batters.
Siraj wasn’t picked for the Champions Trophy and hasn’t been in the T20I team since the 2024 World Cup win. It was a surprise since he took the most ODI wickets for India from early 2022 to the end of last year – 71 wickets at about 23 each.
He even bowled well enough to start over Mohammed Shami in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
15 seconds of pure 𝑀𝑖𝑦𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐🔥 pic.twitter.com/2jfdpa8XX6
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) March 20, 2025
Royal Challengers Bengaluru let Siraj go before the IPL 2025 big auction, which surprised people. But Gujarat showed they believed in him and signed him for a huge Rs 12.25 crore.
Siraj will try to get Ajit Agarkar and his team to notice him so he can get back in the running for a spot.
Besides Siraj, Gujarat also got England’s wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, Glenn Phillips, Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, and Gerald Coetzee in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
We have really good fast bowlers. Rashid’s been with us, and we have batters who can really hit, like Rutherford, Philips, and Buttler. Some good Indian players such as Mahipal and Sai add to our team, said Gujarat captain Shubman Gill to JioHotstar.
Siraj started bowling a cricket ball about ten years ago. In 2017, he got an IPL contract for Rs 2.6 crore. A few months later, he was playing for India in a T20I game against New Zealand.
He showed what he could do when he took the most wickets for Hyderabad in just his second Ranji Trophy season, grabbing 41 wickets in nine games.
Siraj last played in a Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha in January. He took four wickets in that game, going back to domestic first-class cricket after almost five years.
