Both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mohammed Siraj are enjoying a great campaign in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. With four wins from the same number of matches, RCB are placed at the pole position on the eight-team points table, while Siraj has so far scalped five wickets bowling at an impressive average of 18.20.
Impressed with Siraj's display in IPL 2021, former India seamer Ashish Nehra compared the 27-year-old with India's premier seamer Jasprit Bumrah and claimed that the former is better in terms of skills.
“There was talk about a couple of years ago that he used to pick up 5-6 wickets in every match for India A with the red ball… (now he) is a very good all-format bowler. There is no shortage skill, he has all type of variations. I would in fact say that skill wise, he is even ahead of Bumrah, if you talk of variations,” Nehra said in a video on Cricbuzz.
“He has a different slower one, there is no lack of speed, he can move the new ball. He needs to keep his fitness and sharpen his mind. If he can do these two things well, sky is the limit,” the former cricketer added.
Siraj, who had a brilliant outing with Team India in Australia, has been filling the boots of senior compatriots (Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav) while they were recovering from their respective injuries. Siraj has not looked back since then, continuing his fine run of form.
Inswinging Yorker in the powerplay. This shows Mohammad Siraj is now Specialist T20 bowler. pic.twitter.com/pGG8WEdigX
— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) April 22, 2021
In IPL 2021, Siraj has been spearheading the RCB attack and has been handling the new ball duties alongside Kyle Jamieson. He also became the first bowler to reach 50 dot balls in the ongoing season.
