Indian veteran wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik shared an interesting event of conversation between him and Mohammed Siraj during Siraj’s debut match in International Cricket. Siraj made his T20I debut for India against New Zealand on 4 November 2017, taking the wicket of Kane Williamson and finishing with figures of 1 wicket for 53 runs from four overs.
Dinesh Karthik who was part of the Indian Squad in 2017 revealed that he had predicted that Siraj would be hammered by New Zealand Opener Colin Munro eventually, he scored a terrific Hundred and Siraj was taken to the cleaners. Recalling those incidents Karthik on cricbuzz’s ‘Rise of New India’ show said
“When he was picked for T20s at the time, I think he wasn’t ready for the format. He played a game in Rajkot against New Zealand and before that day, I was saying, ‘There is a batter called Colin Munro, he is going to smack you. Just wait and watch, I have a feeling he is going to belt you,”
Siraj immediately responded that he will get Colin Munro Out. Interestingly, Colin Munro went on to get a hundred in that game. Siraj had a poor outing in his first international match he bowled and conceded more than 13 runs an over and New Zealand won the match by 40 runs.
Dinesh Karthik said that even today Siraj recalls those memories and Karthik added that Siraj is one of the few fast bowlers that he has a good rapport with and there have a lot of fun moments together. Dinesh Karthik and Mohammad Siraj will be part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023 and will be important players for RCB going into this edition of IPL.
Mohammed Siraj Will Part Of The 2023 World Cup – Dinesh Karthik
Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik said that Mohammed Siraj will undoubtedly be a part of the Indian team in the 2023 ODI World cup. Mohammed Siraj is the no.1 bowler in ICC ODI Rankings and Siraj has been India’s go-to bowler in ODI and Test formats in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.
“I’m very sure that he would be part of the 2023 World Cup team. He deserves that spot, he has done well. The 2022 IPL taught him a lot of things about handling failures, and that has kept him in good stead. I see him as one of those — let’s just say he doesn’t get injuries — at least a 300-wicket Test bowler,” Karthik said
Dinesh Karthik also reckoned that Siraj will take at least 300 wickets if he maintains his fitness in the longer format. Even though Siraj is the top-ranked bowler in the ODI circuit, Karthik believes the young pacer has still got a lot to learn in the shorter formats of the game. IPL 2023 will be an opportunity for Siraj to prove his worth in the shortest format of the game.