Mohammed Siraj became the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world after producing a devastating spell of pace bowling to guide India to the Asia Cup 2023 title. The fast bowler took six wickets to completely demolish Sri Lanka and his performance earned him massive praise ahead of the Cricket World Cup 2023. South Africa legend AB De Villiers played with Siraj as part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League and he was all praise for the pacer. De Villiers pointed out the major assets in Siraj's game and tipped him to achieve even more in the future.
"I think what stands out with him is his attitude, and we've spoken about this before on this series. Your attitude can really uplift you if you never give up. And if you keep trying and you make your attitude, catch you with your teammates, the people want you there. The fans want you there, and that's where you start doing some brilliant things and special things on the park. And Mohammad Siraj is one of those players."
"He always just keeps coming back. He's always in your face and I've mentioned this before. The bowlers who are respected the most are the guys that never gave up. They would always compete for every single ball, be in your face. And that's what Siraj does," De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
India squad for first 2 ODIs: KL Rahul (Captain & Wicket Keeper), Ravindra Jadeja (Vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
India squad for final ODI: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj.