“Wish I had gotten one last chance to meet you” - Mohammed Siraj dedicates Player of the Match award to late Hyderabad cricketer

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj dedicated the Player of the Match award he won for his excellent bowling performance against Punjab Kings (PBKS) to late Hyderabad cricketer Abdul Azeem. The latter passed away on Tuesday, April 18, at the age of 62 after being on dialysis for quite some time.

Siraj was named Player of the Match for his spell of 4/21 as RCB beat PBKS by 24 runs. Batting first, Bangalore put up 174/4 on the board. Defending the total, Siraj dismissed Atharva Taide (four) and Liam Livingstone (two) before returning to knock over Harpreet Brar (13) and Nathan Ellis (one).

Following RCB’s impressive win on Thursday, April 20, in the IPL 2023 match at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, Siraj took to his official Twitter handle to pay tribute to Azeem.

Sharing an emotional note, he posted:

“Dear Azeem Sir, m going to alwz appreciate what you have done for me & many others like me. You were so generous, kind & helpful, cant thank god enough to make me meet you. Wish I had gotten one last chance to meet u but nevertheless I’d like to dedicate today’s POTM award to you.”

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A Hyderabad stalwart, Azeem played 73 first-class matches between 1980 to 1995, scoring 4644 runs at an average of 43.40, with 12 hundreds and 18 half-centuries. He had a highest score of 303*.

“The lockdown was really important for me” - Mohammed Siraj

While Siraj has been in exceptional bowling form across formats over the last year, he struggled for rhythm in the period before that. The Hyderabad pacer revealed that he worked on his bowling during the lockdown.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, he said:

“The lockdown was really important for me, because I used to get hit for boundaries very often before that. I worked on my plans, my fitness and my bowling and it's all paying dividends now.”

He also ran out Harpreet Singh Bhatia with a direct hit. On his fielding, he commented:

“I always try to improve in every department of the game because I understand it is important to contribute in whichever way possible. Always rated myself as a decent fielder, misfields can happen but I take my fielding seriously.”

Thanks to Siraj’s brilliance, PBKS were bowled out for 150 in 18.2 overs.