Mohammed Siraj breaks long silence on Champions Trophy snub: 'I only have a cricket ball in my hands'

Even when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament with a back injury, India picked Harshit Rana as his replacement, not Siraj.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was a surprise exclusion from India's Champions Trophy squad. The right-arm pacer was ranked in the top five of the ICC ODI rankings when snubbed from the Champions Trophy squad. Astonishingly, even when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament with a back injury, India picked Harshit Rana as his replacement, not Siraj.

Mohammed Siraj bowls (PTI)

The Hyderabad cricketer, one of the very few Indian cricketers who is a regular in all three formats, has in fact, missed a lot of cricket since playing the fifth Test against Australia at Sydney in early January. He was not a part of India's white-ball squads for the home series against England.

However, this has not dampened his spirits. He doesn't want to put himself under pressure by thinking about selection.

“Look, selection is not in my hands. I have only a cricket ball in my hands and I wanted to do as much as I can with that. I don’t want to put pressure on myself thinking about selection, as I want to focus on my performance," Siraj told PTI.

Siraj, who was released by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of last year’s auction, was picked up by the Gujarat Titans as a like-for-like replacement for Mohammed Shami.

Siraj said he used the time away from the Indian team to work on his fitness and bowling skills.

“I have been playing for some years now, and usually, we don’t get that much rest. But now that I have got some time off, I have worked on my fitness and bowling skills.

“I have worked really hard with how to bowl with new and old balls, and I wanted to work on my slower balls and yorkers. This time I really used to work on those areas, and let’s how things pan out for me in this IPL,” he added.

But now, Siraj will get a chance to work with Ashish Nehra, who has achieved a name for himself as an excellent coach, during his stint with GT.

“As a fast bowler, Ashu bhai has done a lot for Indian cricket, he was a genuine match winner for the country. I want to learn some things from him that I feel will improve me as a bowler.

"It’s very important for me to add those new skill sets to my bowling such as bowling stumps to stumps line and bowling at the right length,” Siraj noted.