Mohammed Siraj (Hindi: [sɪɾaːdʒ]; born 13 March 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast bowler for the Indian national team. He also plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League and Hyderabad in domestic cricket. He was a part of the Indian squad which won the 2023 Asia Cup, where he was the Player of the Match in the final against Sri Lanka. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup. He is also a DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) in Hyderabad appointed on 11 October 2024 at Telangana DGP (Director General of Police) office.[3][4] This came in effect after Telangana CM Revanth Reddy's announcement.

Mohammed Siraj
Siraj in 2024
Personal information
Born (1994-03-13) 13 March 1994 (age 30)
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
NicknameMiyan, DSP Siraj [1]
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast[2]
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 298)26 December 2020 v Australia
Last Test26 December 2024 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 225)15 January 2019 v Australia
Last ODI19 November 2023 v Australia
ODI shirt no.73
T20I debut (cap 71)4 November 2017 v New Zealand
Last T20I28 July 2024 v Sri Lanka
T20I shirt no.73 (formerly 13)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2015–2017Sunrisers Hyderabad
2018–2024Royal Challengers Bengaluru
2022Warwickshire
2025Gujarat Titans
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 32 44 67 86
Runs scored 108 55 450 184
Batting average 4.69 7.85 7.14 8.36
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Top score 16* 9* 46 36*
Balls bowled 4,525 1,975 11,103 3,907
Wickets 85 71 234 149
Bowling average 29.67 24.04 25.26 22.59
5 wickets in innings 3 1 8 4
10 wickets in match 0 0 2 0
Best bowling 6/15 6/21 8/59 6/21
Catches/stumpings 14/– 6/– 20/– 12/–
Medal record
Men's cricket
Representing  India
ODI World Cup
Second place 2023 India
T20 World Cup
First place 2024 West Indies & USA
World Test Championship
Second place 2019-2021 England
Second place 2021–2023 England
Asia Cup
First place 2023 Pakistan & Sri Lanka
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 14 March 2024
Police career
Allegiance India
Department Police Department
BranchTelangana Police
Service years2024–present
Rank DSP

Early life

Siraj was born on 13 March 1994 in Hyderabad, Telangana to a Hyderabadi Muslim family. His father, Mirza Mohammed Ghaus, was an auto rickshaw driver, and his mother, Shabana Begum, is a housewife. His elder brother, Mohammed Ismail, is an engineer. Siraj started playing club cricket at the age of 19 after first starting bowling aged 16, with a tennis ball. In his first match, he took 9 wickets for his uncle's team in the Hyderabad Cricket Association.[5][6]

Domestic career

Siraj made his first-class debut on 15 November 2015 under the coaching of Karthik Udupa playing for Hyderabad in the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy tournament.[7] He made his Twenty20 debut on 2 January 2016 in the 2015–16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament.[8] During the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy tournament, he was the highest wicket-taker for Hyderabad with 41 wickets at an average of 18.92.[9]

In February 2018, he was the leading wicket-taker in the 2017–18 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 23 dismissals in seven matches.[10] In October 2018, he was named in India A's squad for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy.[11] In October 2019, he was named in India B's squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy.[12]

International career

In October 2017, he was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against New Zealand.[13] He made his T20I debut for India against New Zealand on 4 November 2017, taking the wicket of Kane Williamson, finishing with figures of 1 wicket for 53 runs from four overs.[14]

In February 2018, he was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the 2018 Nidahas Trophy.[15] In September 2018, he was named in India's Test squad for their series against the West Indies, but he did not play.[16] In December 2018, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against Australia.[17] He made his ODI debut against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on 15 January 2019.[18][19]

On 26 October 2020, Siraj was named in India's Test squad for their series against Australia.[20] After some deliberation to choose between Navdeep Saini and Siraj following an injury to Mohammad Shami, Siraj was chosen ahead of Saini, and he made his Test debut for India on 26 December 2020, against Australia.[21][22] His first Test wicket was of Marnus Labuschagne.[23] In January 2021, during the fourth Test of the series against Australia, Siraj took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.[24]

In January 2023, Siraj played important role in the Ind vs NZ ODI series. He took 4 wickets in the first ODI which helped the team to win the match for 12 runs.[25]

On 21 January 2023, Siraj became the No. 1 ODI Bowler in ICC ODI Rankings for Bowlers.[26]

On 21 August 2023, Siraj was selected to play for India and his name was included in the 15 Man squad announced by BCCI ahead of 2023 Asia Cup.[27]

On 17 September 2023, in the Asia Cup final, Siraj became the joint fastest bowler to take a 6 wicket haul in ODIs equaling Chaminda Vaas's record of taking 5 wicket in 16 balls against Bangladesh in 2003 World Cup.[28] He ended with a career best figure of 6/21 and also became the 1st Indian to take 4 wickets in an over.[29]

In May 2024, he was named in India’s squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.[30]

Indian Premier League

In February 2017, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad team for the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) for 2.6 crores.[31] In January 2018, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2018 IPL auction.[32]

On 21 October 2020, he became the first bowler in IPL history to bowl back to back maiden overs in a single match.[33][34]

In November 2024, he was bought by Gujarat Titans in the 2025 IPL Mega Auction for 12.25 Crores.[35]

References

  1. ^ "Mohammed Siraj leaves Sri Lanka jaded with heavy dose of 'Miya Magic' and six overs of madness".
  2. ^ Scroll Staff (27 April 2021). "Data check: Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna dominate fastest deliveries list for IPL 2021 so far". Scroll.in. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Latest Business and Financial News : The Economic Times on mobile". m.economictimes.com. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  4. ^ "From Cricket Pitches to Police Duty: Mohammed Siraj Appointed as DSP at Telangana DGP Office". FantasyKhiladi. 11 October 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  5. ^ Subrahmanyam, V. v (7 April 2017). "Siraj living life in the fast lane". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  6. ^ Rai, Prakash (14 May 2021). ""Miss You Papa": Mohammed Siraj's Emotional Post On First Eid After Father's Death". Sports NDTV. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Ranji Trophy, Group C: Services v Hyderabad (India) at Delhi, Nov 15-18, 2015". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Group A: Bengal v Hyderabad (India) at Nagpur, Jan 2, 2016". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Hyderabad Ranji Trophy 2016-2017 Statistics". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Vijay Hazare Trophy, 2017/18:Most Wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Rahane, Ashwin and Karthik to play Deodhar Trophy". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Deodhar Trophy 2019: Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv, Shubman to lead; Yashasvi earns call-up". SportStar. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  13. ^ "Iyer, Siraj called up for New Zealand T20Is". ESPNcricinfo. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  14. ^ "2nd T20I (N), New Zealand tour of India at Rajkot, Nov 4 2017". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  15. ^ "Rohit Sharma to lead India in Nidahas Trophy 2018". BCCI Press Release. 25 February 2018. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  16. ^ "Indian team for Paytm Test series against Windies announced". Board of Control for Cricket in India. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  17. ^ "India's ODI squad against Australia announced; squads for New Zealand tour declared". The Board of Control for Cricket in India. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  18. ^ "India vs Australia: Mohammed Siraj makes ODI debut in Adelaide". The Indian Express. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  19. ^ "Recent Match Report - Australia vs India 2nd ODI 2019". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  20. ^ "Indian team for Australia series: Rohit Sharma not named in squads for all formats due to injury concern, Varun Chakravarthy included for T20Is". Hindustan Times. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  21. ^ "2nd Test, Melbourne, Dec 26 - Dec 30 2020, India tour of Australia". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  22. ^ "Navdeep Saini or Mohammed Siraj, the Better Pick". Yorker World. 29 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  23. ^ Sportstar, Team (26 December 2020). "India vs Australia, Boxing Day Test: Mohammed Siraj shines on debut". Sportstar. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  24. ^ "Brisbane Test: Mohammed Siraj enters elite list with 5-wicket haul, tops India bowling charts in maiden series". India Today. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  25. ^ "Cricket scorecard - India vs New Zealand, 1st ODI, New Zealand tour of India, 2023". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  26. ^ "ICC ODI Rankings: Mohammed Siraj Becomes The Number One Bowler In ODIs". 25 January 2023.
  27. ^ "India Squad announced for Asia Cup". Deccan Chronicle. 4 September 2023.
  28. ^ "Mohammed Siraj's record-breaking Colombo show hands Sri Lanka unwanted 23-year-old Asia Cup low in final vs India". Hindustan Times. 17 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  29. ^ Livemint (17 September 2023). "Asia Cup Final: Siraj becomes first Indian bowler to take 4 wickets in 1 over". mint. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  30. ^ "India's Squad for the ICC Men's T20I World Cup 2024". ScoreWaves. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  31. ^ "List of players sold and unsold at IPL auction 2017". ESPNcricinfo. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  32. ^ "List of sold and unsold players". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  33. ^ "Mohammad Siraj became the first bowler to bowl two maidens in a IPL match with figures of 3 wickets for 8 runs in 4 overs". The Indian Express. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  34. ^ "Mohammed Siraj's record-breaking night stuns Kolkata Knight Riders". ESPNcricinfo. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  35. ^ "Mohammed Siraj to play for new IPL team after GT buy him for Rs 12.25 crore, RCB say no to RTM". The Times of India. Times of India. 25 November 2024.