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Cricket Players'Told him 'Colin Munro is going to belt you'. He said...': Karthik recalls Siraj's horror debut vs New Zealand
Not all the regulars in India's potent fast bowling battery cemented their spot with their initial performances for the team.
India have built an enviable wealth of fast bowlers over the course of the latter half of the last decade and it has led to a number of players stepping up for them on several occasions accross formats. While the likes of Jasprit Bumrah didn't take too long to cement their places in the Indian team, there were quite a few who have had to go through the grind after making their international debuts and while most of them continue to be in and out of the side in different formats, others have managed to make themselves indispensable.
Mohammed Siraj is one such bowler. Siraj has been impressive for India in ODIs this year and has climbed to the top of the ICC rankings in the format. He is also a player who makes it into the Indian Test XI on most occasions. However, this wasn't always the case and Siraj spent a number of months on the sidelines after making his international debut in November 2017.
Siraj had a bit of a nightmare in his first international outing, which came in a T20I against New Zealand in Rajkot. While he got the wicket of Kiwi talisman Kane Williamson, he ended up being belted around the park by Colin Munro, who scored an unbeaten 109 in just 58 balls in the match. Veteran India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik hilariously recalled that he had predicted that Siraj would get this kind of treatment from Munro.
“When he was picked for T20s at the time, I think he wasn't ready for the format. He was sharp but he was known to be a bit erratic and he got picked in the T20 team. He played a game in Rajkot against New Zealand and prior to that day I was saying, ‘There is a batter called Colin Munro, he is going to smack you. Just wait and watch, I have a feeling he is going to belt you,’” said Karthik on Cricbuzz's ‘Rise of New India’ show.
“He said, 'No, no, I'll get him out.' Interestingly, Colin Munro went on to get a hundred in that game and he really pasted this guy. Even today he says you have such a bad tongue, you said something and it came through and my career almost got finished there. We have lot of fun moments, he is one of the few fast bowlers I connected with a lot. He lives in Hyderabad but can't speak a word of Telugu, I make fun of him for that as well,” Karthik said.
Siraj ended up with figures of 1/53 in that match. It would only be over the course of India's famous 2020/21 Test series win in Australia that Siraj would cement himself in the team. Making his Test debut in that series, Siraj ended up becoming an integral part of the Indian team's second consecutive series win in Australia despite a number of injuries to key players. Siraj has played 17 Test matches and taken 47 wickets. In 21 ODIs, he as taken 38 wickets and in eight T20Is, he has got 11 scalps.
