Siraj was bought by RCB in 2018 for Rs 2.6 crore, and he played 87 matches for them, picking 83 wickets at an average of 31.45
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Bengaluru
Mohammed Siraj is set to play for Gujarat Titans (GT) this year in the Indian Premier League. Siraj expressed his emotions about Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He said Kohli has played a big hand in his career and supported him in his ups and downs. He also noted that it was a very emotional moment for him to leave RCB.
Siraj was bought by RCB in 2018 for Rs 2.6 crore, and he played 87 matches for them, picking 83 wickets at an average of 31.45, with the best figures of 4/21. He is RCB’s third-highest wicket-taker ever, behind Harshal Patel (99) and Yuzvendra Chahal (139).
“To be honest Virat Kohli has huge hand in my career, he has backed me in my bad time, 2018 and 2019 he supported me he even retained me and after that my performance and graph got up, he has been very supportive. It has been very emotional for me to leave RC. Let’s see what happens when I come against RCB. The match is on April 2,” Mohammed Siraj said.
“My training is going very well with all the pacers in my team, and our bowling unit knows how to plan and execute. I am feeling very pleasant training with them all, teammates, and especially being here in Gujarat Titans,” he added.
During his stint with RCB, Siraj experienced qualification to playoffs four times but could never win a trophy. The 2023 season was his best for RCB. He took 19 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 19.74 and an economy rate of 7.50, with best figures of 4/21.
In the last season, during which Siraj took 15 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 33.07, RCB experienced a memorable turnaround in the second half of the season. They went from winning only one of their first eight matches to winning six matches in a row to book a place in the playoffs.
However, they lost to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the eliminator. Siraj’s last competitive cricket match was against Vidarbha in January. He took four wickets across both innings in their Ranji Trophy match.
Also, ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Nitish Kumar Reddy sat down with PUMA India to reflect on his meteoric rise–from his record-breaking Border-Gavaskar Trophy century to the light-hearted dressing room banter that earned him a special gift from Virat Kohli, now forever tied to that historic innings.
A lifelong fan of Kohli, he couldn’t resist when the cricket legend offered up a prized pair of his shoes. Wearing them at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Nitish scripted history, becoming the first Indian batter to score a Test century in Australia from No. 8–the third-youngest Indian centurion in Australia after Sachin Tendulkar & Rishabh Pant–and setting the record for the most sixes by an Indian in a Test series there.
“Back in the locker room, he (Kohli) once asked Sarfaraz (Khan), ‘Sarfu, tera size kya hai?’ (Sarfaraz, what’s your shoe size?), and he said, ‘Nine.’ Then he turned to me, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I have to guess this correctly,’ because even if they weren’t my size, I really wanted his shoes. I said, ’10,’ and he gave them to me. In the next match, I wore those shoes and scored a hundred!” Reddy shared in the hour-long podcast, also revealing that he later got both his bat and those shoes signed by Kohli, according to PUMA India release.
With the key cricket season approaching, Nitish has cemented himself as one of cricket’s brightest young talents. He played a key role in his team’s IPL final run last season for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, scoring 303 runs and taking three wickets under Pat Cummins’ “dedicated and calm” leadership. Determined to become a top all-rounder, Nitish has also sought advice from Hardik Pandya while impressing on his Bangladesh debut before his BGT heroics.
Nitish revealed that amidst the celebrations of his unforgettable Melbourne century, he found himself searching for just two people.
“Everyone in the dressing room came up and congratulated me, but I was just looking for one guy–hoping he’d come and talk to me. When Virat bhai (Kohli) finally walked up and told me I had played a wonderful game, that moment itself was special for me. I was also scanning the stands for my father but couldn’t find him. Later, I saw on the screen that he was crying,” he said.Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli during a practice session ahead of the opening Indian Premiere League (IPL) match against Kolkata Knight Riders, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday (ANI)
