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Ismail has credited Virat Kohli for Mohammed Siraj’s fitness and inspiration.
Virat Kohli has been credited for Mohammed Siraj’s fitness (Picture credit: AFP)
Star India pacer Mohammed Siraj’s brother Ismail has said that the former takes a lot of inspiration from ace batter Virat Kohli and a lot of credit for his fitness goes to the latter, who is known to have brought about a strict fitness regime which a number of youngsters in the Indian team followed.
Siraj played all five Tests of the just-concluded drawn series against England and bowled 185.3 overs in total, picking up 23 wickets in all.
However, ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah was available for just three of the matches, skipping the must-win fifth Test at The Oval as part of his workload management.
“Abbu ke liye khelna hai, unka sapna jiyunga main (I want to play for father and live his dream). That’s what Siraj always says. Fitness is on another level for him now. And it is all because of Virat Kohli. He takes a lot of inspiration from Virat. He is more than his elder brother. The aggression and hunger he has taken from Virat,” Ismail said while speaking to The Times of India.
“In 2018, Siraj had a terrible IPL season. A lot of questions were raised, but at that time, Virat bhaiya stood by him and supported him. He knew what qualities Siraj had. He backed Siraj and gave him a lot of chances at both RCB and in the Indian team. All the credit goes to Virat bhaiya. There have been times when Siraj has confessed that he owes his career to Virat bhai. He was fond of biryani and now he eats it and that too, rarely, after getting some pep talk from Virat bhaiya,” Ismail added.
With just 35 runs needed and four wickets in hand, England looked in a prime position to clinch the match and seal the series 3-1.
But Siraj turned the game on its head by taking three wickets to guide India to a memorable six-wicket victory over England and draw the series 2-2.
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