‘Didn’t Have Petrol; Now I Have Three Cars’: Mohammed Siraj's Rags To Riches Story Before WTC Final

Mohammed Siraj comes from a humble background where his late father was an auto-rickshaw driver while his mother worked as a domestic worker. He has played a lot of tennis-ball cricket in local tournaments to earn money.

Southampton: Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has opened up about a lot of things in what looked like a casual interview with Harsha Bhogale on Cricbuzz. In the interview, Siraj thanked the almighty as once, he did not have money to purchase petrol, but today he has 'three cars'

It's no secret that Mohammed Siraj comes from a humble background where his late father was an auto-rickshaw driver while his mother worked as a domestic worker. Siraj's friend and Hyderabad teammate, Abdul Azem once said that the pacer did not have money to buy his own shoes till the age of 20.

Siraj is someone who has played a lot of tennis-ball cricket in local tournaments to earn money. It is here that he developed bowling at an express pace. While paying one of these tennis-ball tournaments, Siraj was spotted and went on to play for the Charminar Cricket Club in Hyderabad. 

In an interview to Telangana Today, Hyderabad Left-arm seamer CV Milind said, "His mother (Shabana), used to beat him up for playing ‘too much of cricket’, but he had quiet support from his father (Mohammed Ghouse), who always encouraged him."

In his latest interview, Mohammed Siraj said how he always wanted to play cricket for his father. Unfortunately, Siraj lost his father just before his debut Test match in Australia. Siraj was in tears when the national anthem was being played before the start of the Test match at Melbourne Cricket Ground. When asked about the same, Siraj said, "It was my lifelong dream to play for India, which made me emotional. I am playing for Dad"

Mohammed Siraj has played 5 Test matches and picked up 16 wickets for India. His impressive performance earned him a place in the 15-member squad of Inda's WTC Final. Although, there is still suspense whether Siraj would be the part of XI or the experienced Ishant Sharma make his way. 

Regardless of Siraj's selection on Friday, he will be a big asset for India in the future. 

A small trailer of the interview was released by Cricbuzz, in which Siraj is seen revealing a lot of dressing room secrets too. At a point, he said that Virat Kohli has always given him confidence, but this time the captain had a unique way of encouraging Siraj. Kohli said that "if Rishabh Pant can bat well, anyone can" in Siraj's words.