"He's been exceptionally good at what he does" - Mike Hesson happy with Mohammed Siraj's IPL 2023 exploits

Royal Challengers Bangalore Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson reckons Mohammed Siraj's volume of one-day cricket has helped refine his core skills for the T20 format. Hesson feels the right-arm seamer has tremendously improved since the mediocre 2022 season. Siraj, currently the purple-cap holder, has been highly effective with the new ball, setting the tone for RCB with the new ball.

The 28-year-old's 14 scalps this season have come at 16.64 apiece, dismissing fast run-scorers like Jos Buttler, Ishan Kishan, Kyle Mayers, Atharva Taide, and Liam Livingstone.

Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, the 48-year-old revealed that Siraj following the process diligently has made a massive difference and that the seamer has used all the change-ups quite well.

Hesson said:

"He's played a lot of one-day cricket, where you've got to do your core skills over and over again, and he's become very good at those core skills. When you get confident doing that, you can repeat them; if you're not, you can go searching a little bit. He's been exceptionally good at what he does."

He added:

"His seam presentation is as good as I've seen it, with both his outswing and his three-quarter ball, and he's bowling a good bouncer. I'm delighted for Siraj. Everyone knows he had a tough year last year but the fact he's been really good for India - he's one of their first picks in white-ball cricket - has flowed into his work here."

Hesson labeled Siraj as the leader of the attack, with the responsibility helping his success even more:

"He's thrived on it from the very first game. We gave Siraj the first over and said, "Look, you are the leader of our attack." He thrives under that sort of confidence. Every time I've asked him to deliver in the powerplay, he has set the tone for us."

Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood has been the missing link for RCB so far in IPL 2023 as his Achilles injury has prevented him from participating. Nevertheless, the right-arm bowler has started training and might be available soon.

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"We invested a lot of money in him" - Mike Hesson on Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood celebrates a wicket. (Credits: Twitter)

When asked how much of a difference Hazlewood's return will make, Hesson credited the likes of Reece Topley, Wayne Parnell, and David Willey for being effective.

He elaborated:

"Look, he will make a difference. But also to be fair to Topley, Parnell and Willey, they've been really good for us. When you miss a guy of Hazlewood's quality… obviously we invested a lot of money in him, because we knew he'd do that job, so the fact that our back-up bowlers have done such a good job is exciting for us."

With four wins and four losses, RCB will next face the Lucknow Super Giants on Monday in an away game.