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Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj made a forgettable debut for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In the high-scoring encounter at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Siraj deviated from his line often and conceded 54 runs from quota of four overs. GT's IPL 2022-winning member Varun Aaron said that it is too soon to pass a judgment on Siraj but he was not impressive in the slog overs.
"It's his first game in this IPL. To pass judgment, you have to wait at least four to five games," Varun Aaron said of Siraj on ESPNcricinfo's T20 TimeOut. "Yes, Siraj has been a bit expensive in the beginning, but he can also win you games with the ball. Being under Ashish Nehra [GT head coach] now, this year could be one of the better years for him. He will learn from tonight, but his decision-making towards the end was not the best."
Siraj conceded just four runs in the first over and went for 10 in the next with the new ball. He was brought back into the attack in the 15th over where he was hit for two sixes. He bowled the final over as well and was hit for five fours by Shashank Singh as PBKS posted 243/5.
Rayudu wants Siraj to focus on his natural ability
In the same discussion, former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ambati Rayudu pointed out that Siraj is better when he bowls inswing which comes naturally to him instead of bowling outswingers.
"[Siraj] is predominantly an inswing bowler. Today he bowled one ball [that was] seam up and inswing; the rest were all trying to bowl his outswingers, which he [has started doing] recently. But I think he has to get back to his natural ability to bowl that inswing and then maybe try and get one-odd ball to outswing," Rayudu said.
Aaron agrees with Rayudu, recalls last year's analysis
Aaron then recalled an analysis done during the previous edition of the IPL where Siraj did not have a good run because he bowled 20 per cent more outswingers. He went on to say that Siraj should focus on inswingers because his outswingers are not as effective as Mohammed Shami's.
"We actually did an analysis of this last year on Star Sports [...] he bowled 20% more outswing balls last year and he didn't have a good IPL, compared to the previous year, when he bowled more inswing. I agree Siraj is way better when he is bowling inswing, and the odd outswing, because his outswing isn't like a [Mohammed] Shami outswing, it doesn't leave people late," the 35-year-old added.
GT's next match is at home as well. They will go up against Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 29.
