It was like a fairytale. The day Mohammed Siraj was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL auction for a whopping Rs 2.6 crore, he had only one dream. That was never to let his father Mohammed Ghaus drive auto rickshaw again and he kept his promise.
Now, he takes another step, as he got his maiden call-up to the Indian team for the T20 series against New Zealand, yesterday.
“I feel proud that at 23, I am good enough to shoulder the responsibility of my family. The day I got an IPL contract, I told my father that I won’t let him work anymore.
Even though he was consistently performing for India A but he didn’t expect a call-up this early.
“I knew that some time in future I will get a call-up but did not expect it this soon. I can’t tell you how happy I am. When I told my parents, they were speechless. It’s a dream come true,” said ecstatic Siraj.
“Whatever I am today is primarily because of Ranji Trophy performance. My 40-odd wickets last season gave me the confidence. There’s nothing like getting wickets in first-class cricket. I was picked for Rest of India after that and because of Ranji Trophy, I got the IPL deal. So 60 per cent credit for this call-up is performance in first-class cricket,” he further said.
