“Virat bhai had supported me a lot in tough times” - Emotional Mohammed Siraj on leaving RCB in IPL

Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has opened up that it was an emotional moment for him to leave the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise. Moreover, he has asserted that Virat Kohli had supported him a lot during his stint with the team.

Notably, Siraj was roped in by the Gujarat Titans franchise for a whopping 12.25 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction after he was released by the Bengaluru-based franchise. Importantly, he made his IPL debut in 2017 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad at 2.6 crore and was drafted in by the RCB in IPL 2018 for 2.2 crore.

Interestingly, RCB didn’t use the Right to Match (RTM) card to retain Siraj during the bidding at the IPL 2025 mega auction in November 2024.

“It’s a good feeling to join Gujarat ahead of the new season. Yeah, it was a bit emotional for me to leave RCB because Virat bhai had supported me a lot in tough times, but we have a fantastic team here under Gill,” Siraj told PTI.

Moreover, Mohammed Siraj also talked about the BCCI allowing the use of saliva to shine the ball during IPL 2025. Notably, the ban on saliva was imposed ahead of IPL 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s very good for bowlers. It's excellent news for us bowlers because when the ball is not doing anything, applying saliva on the ball will increase the chances of finding some reverse swing. It sometimes aids reverse swing because scrubbing the ball against the shirt will not help (to get reverse swing). But using saliva on the ball will help in maintaining (the shine on one side), and it is important,” he added.

Gujarat Titans will begin their competition in IPL 2025 against Punjab Kings on Tuesday, March 25 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

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