Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj was in sublime form during the team's Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka on Sunday. The Hyderabad-born cricketer was spot on right from the word go and delivered a maiden over to begin with before scalping four wickets in an over. He returned to complete a fifer in 16 deliveries and eventually finished with exceptional figures of 6 for 21. With the help of his spell, India bowled out Sri Lanka for a mere 50 runs and their openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill then raced to the target in 6.1 overs to help India bag their eighth Asia Cup title.
Following India's emphatic victory over Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, filmmaker SS Rajamouli reacted to Siraj's sensational bowling performance and heaped praises on the speedster. Rajamouli also recalled a pumped up Siraj chasing the ball to the boundary ropes off his own bowling after he realised that there was no mid on in play.
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"Siraj Miyan, Our Tolichowki boy shines at the Asia Cup final with 6 wickets. And has a big heart, running to long-on to stop the boundary off his own bowling," Rajamouli wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Here is his tweet:
Siraj was awarded the Player of the Match for his stupendous performance. However, a heartwarming gesture of the cricketer has gone viral as he decided to donate his prize money to the groundstaff who worked tirelessly during Asia Cup 2023 in Colombo and Kandy.
His gesture came after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah decided to award USD 50,000 for the curators and groundsmen at Colombo and Kandy.