'Virat was really confident about him': Mike Hesson reveals how Kohli backed India pacer during RCB meeting

Hesson lauded the Indian for his willingness to work hard on his game and fix what he saw as weaknesses.

Mohammed Siraj has sprung into the conversation as a top-quality third seamer for India in Test cricket, very capably supporting Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. He was phenomenal in Australia and has been a part of the vastly improved pace attack since then.

Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) (PTI)

Siraj, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coached by Mike Hesson, has received a lot of praise for how far he’s come with his game. He crowned it with four wickets in the first innings of the ongoing Edgbaston Test and also claimed the all-important pluck of Joe Root.

Speaking to the RCB website, Hesson was effusive in praise of the Indian. “For me, Siraj had a good change of pace and a really good skillset for white-ball cricket but he had solid fundamentals behind him. You need your base skills; I think that’s where first-class cricket and Test cricket come in. He has bowled a lot of overs, so it showed that he’s fit," he said.

Siraj has received criticism for being slightly expensive in limited-overs cricket, but has shown his improvements as a bowler, adding pace to his game and always showing the potential to trouble batters using his sharply seaming deliveries, even on flat decks.

“He has a repeatable action, so I knew what I was going to get day in and day out. And as a coach, that’s so important. He didn’t need to have his timing right for his action to work on the day and for the ball to come out right.

"He’d done the work in first-class cricket, he’s now doing the work in Test cricket. If there was one format he was going to do well at the start of his international career, it was probably Test cricket,” said Hesson, praising Siraj for his willingness to work hard on his game and fix what he saw as his weaknesses.

Hesson also claimed that the RCB leadership group sees Siraj as having the potential to truly translate that to the white ball game. He recalled Virat Kohli being “really confident” about the pacer.

“I think the meeting that Simon (Katich), myself and Virat (Kohli) had initially, where we were talking about players, Virat was really confident about Siraj and had confidence in him at the death. And on different grounds at different times, he felt Siraj had the skillset that would still give him success.”

Siraj will look to bowl well and help his captain Bumrah with the ball as India look to win the fifth and final Test match of the England tour, which began in August 2021. Siraj was impressive in the first leg of the tour, being aggressive with the ball and sparking victory at the Lord’s.