Pacer Mohammed Siraj has risen through the ranks under Virat Kohli – in the IPL at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and then at the national side. Siraj considers Kohli as his elder brother, and both have had some great moments so far together, especially in the Test arena, with the youngster establishing himself as one of India’s premier pacers now.
The 27-year-old seamer recently revealed how Kohli gave him his “life’s best surprise” when the former RCB skipper came to his house in Hyderabad’s Toli Chowki area. Siraj had invited Kohli and his RCB teammates for food at his house.
Virat Kohli, though, was suffering from a stiff back and had said he couldn’t come. However, the RCB skipper gave a big surprise to Siraj and his family when he went to the youngster’s home.
Speaking on The RCB Podcast, Siraj told the entire incident.
“I told (Virat) bhaiyya that I wanted to invite everyone home. He said, ‘Don’t worry, all of us will come’. I went home from the hotel. When I called him up, he said ‘I have a stiff back brother, I can’t come.’ I just told him to rest; that is all I could have said.
“But, when the cars came, I saw (Virat) bhaiyya get off the car. Everyone was there, PP (Parthiv Patel) bhai, (Yuzvendra) Chahal bhai. I just ran towards bhaiyya. That surprise that I got, that was was my life’s best surprise. Because bhaiyya had said he wouldn’t be able to come. It became a big news — Virat Kohli has come to Toli Chowki,” he added.
“I had informed at home that Virat bhaiyya wouldn’t be coming. There was a sense of sadness. When they had heard initially that bhaiyya was coming, they were so excited and were deciding what clothes to wear. Their faces went down when they were told bhaiyya wouldn’t come. They still readied everything once I told them that the rest of the RCB players would be coming. Then bhaiyya came and as the saying goes – ‘chaar chaand laga diya’ (to make something more beautiful).”
In his 12-Test career so far, Siraj has picked up 36 wickets, with the most memorable feat being his five-wicket haul at the Gabba last year. He has 9 wickets in as many white-ball matches for India.
Siraj has been retained by RCB for IPL 2022 for 7 crore.
