Mohammed Siraj says Virat Kohli supported him a lot ahead of IPL 2025

Mohammed Siraj played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru for seven years after joining the franchise in 2018. Siraj took giant strides in his career and revealed that RCB former captain Virat Kohli supported him a lot during the tough times.

The fast bowler from Hyderabad played 87 matches for RCB in which he scalped 83 wickets. However, the pacer was not retained by the franchise before IPL 2025 mega auction and he was bagged for a whopping amount of INR 12.25 crore by Gujarat Titans.

Siraj was recently not picked for the Champions Trophy despite Jasprit Bumrah’s absence and he would be determined to prove his mettle in the upcoming IPL 2025.

“It’s a good feeling to join Gujarat ahead of the new season. Yeah, it was a bit emotional for me to leave RCB because Virat bhai had supported me a lot in tough times, but we have a fantastic team here under Gill,” Siraj told PTI via India Today.

On the other hand, BCCI has re-introduced the use of saliva for the upcoming IPL. Siraj welcomed the move and said it would help the fast bowlers in getting reverse swing.

“It’s very good for bowlers. It’s excellent news for us bowlers because when the ball is not doing anything, applying saliva on the ball will increase the chances of finding some reverse swing. It sometimes aids reverse swing because scrubbing the ball against the shirt will not help (to get reverse swing). But using saliva on the ball will help in maintaining (the shine on one side), and it is important.”

Gujarat Titans will begin their IPL 2025 campaign against Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on March 25.