Why Mohammed Siraj being dropped from the 2025 Champions Trophy proved to be a blessing in disguise for the GT pacer

India pacer Mohammed Siraj's recent form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his franchise, the Gujarat Titans (GT), has taken everyone in the country's cricket circles by surprise. Always lauded for his ability to get the ball to swing away from the right-hander when it was new, it seems that the 31-year-old has added several new tricks to his bag. This was as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) found out on Wednesday, April 2, much to their chagrin.

Playing a key role in GT's eight-wicket win over RCB on Wednesday, April 2, Siraj showcased why he cannot be written off just yet. Despite not being picked in India's squad for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, he did not lose his focus and hit the ground running in the IPL.

RCB had let him go at the end of last season, post which GT snapped him up at the mega auction. Few could blame the Royal Challengers for this decision, driven by strategic and economic reasons rather than sporting ones. Even though Siraj had picked up 15 wickets at 33.06 in IPL 2024, his bogey had been his economy rate of 9.18. Playing at a venue that is much smaller in size than others across the country - M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru - was a specter that had haunted Siraj throughout his stint with RCB.

IPL 2023 had scarcely been better for the pacer. Even though he ended the tournament with 19 scalps at 19.73, his economy rate was 7.50. RCB could hardly be put at fault for having expected great things from the man whom they first picked out of the Sunrisers Hyderabad's pockets in 2018. He could not repay the faith in the way that the management desired eventually broke the camel's back.

---

Mohammed Siraj's improved work ethic and willingness to learn have aided his growth

To have been released by the franchise that played an almost direct role in his elevation into the Indian white-ball side and then subsequently being dropped from the Champions Trophy squad would have broken any ordinary mortal. But not Siraj, who is known for his tenacity, will, and sheer grit. Almost as if he were exemplifying everything that was once good and noble in Hyderabad cricket - he hit the nets with a vengeance and improved his skills to such an extent that he defied classification.

One of the biggest improvements that has been noticeable in Siraj in this IPL season has been his willingness to bowl with the scrambled seam. While he was always a skiddy customer who could take batters by surprise by getting balls to rear from a back of a length, his ability to astonish them by using the contours of the pitch seems protracted now.

Another trick that he may have been forced to add was the slower bouncer, of whose use there is plenty in the modern white-ball game. This was after salt was rubbed on his wounds when Harshit Rana was picked ahead of him to replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the Champions Trophy. Siraj has also varied his pace well, which will hold him in good stead throughout this campaign.

---

Mohammed Siraj is more composed now

Naturally an outswinger, Sportskeeda understands that he worked immensely hard on his inswingers during the break he got from international cricket after the disastrous Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the results are there for everyone to see. The 3-59 he picked up for Hyderabad in their final Ranji Trophy clash against Vidarbha last season was only the beginning of a new chapter in his career.

If there is one particular event that characterises the new spirit that Siraj has found after the dual disappointments he incurred over the last six months, it was the way he dismissed Phil Salt on Wednesday. Salt had just come down the track a ball earlier, picked it up from a hard length, and deposited it over the deep midwicket fence for a gargantuan six.

The connection could not have been sweeter - the ball seemed as if an artist's brush had caressed it - and the result was obvious: it had sailed over 105 meters. While Sportskeeda can put an end to the conjecture that the ball ended up at Cubbon Park across the road, at that moment, it seemed as if it had landed in Siraj's hometown of Hyderabad, about 550 kilometres from Bengaluru.

Instead of being fazed and losing his cool, as he was wont to do in the past, Siraj came back with a delivery pitched slightly fuller on off-stump than it had been a ball earlier. It nipped off from that length, cut back in, and dismantled Salt's stumps, sending it cartwheeling even as the swashbuckling opener watched on in disbelief.

Abbas Ali Baig had shown flair under pressure, and ML Jaisimha had proven his mettle in situations like these. Syed Abid Ali had exemplified his grit when his back was to the wall, and VVS Laxman had typified this Hyderabadi never-give-up mentality the best in his fourth innings classics. But Siraj's recent exploits point out that he is surely on his way to etching his name alongside such great men.