Every match, I want India to win and Siraj to be Man of the Match. In this matter, Delhi and Mumbai have their Kohlis and Sharmas to give them regular dopamine hits, but Siraj made sure Hyderabad was not left behind.
At his peak, we would bet on how many wickets Siraj would take. Then the questions changed. Is he in the playing XI? Is he at least in the 15-member squad? Now, it’s simply: Where is Siraj?
The short answer is that he’s in our hearts. And if he loses his place in the team, he’ll be in Jubilee Hills, in his new mansion. Well, he hasn’t completely disappeared from Indian cricket, but we don’t get to see him shine as often. Pun intended.
But where was he?
Siraj was in First Lancer, playing cricket with a tennis ball on a hockey ground near Masab Tank. Well, those were the odds he was up against. Trust me, it takes a guy like Siraj to develop a pace of 150 kmph in those conditions. I’ve lived there. That ground is not a cricket ground. It’s a carnival of dust.
And there are more similarities between Siraj and me. We share a birthday, March 13. And we both rode the same bike: a Bajaj Platina, which promised a mileage of 115 kilometres per litre.
Last year, in 2025, when I saw Siraj bowl 185.3 overs across the five-Test series in England, the most by any bowler in the series, only I knew the secret. It was the Bajaj Platina!
Other bowlers had stamina. Siraj had stamina and mileage.
You can build stamina in the gym. You can improve your fitness with training. But this kind of mileage? This comes from riding a Bajaj Platina.
Remember the 2023 Asia Cup final? Siraj took six wickets for 21 runs in seven overs. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 50. He took four wickets in a single over. This was Lanka Dahan 2.0, all over again for Sri Lanka.
Then there was the famous Gabba Test in 2021, where he took five wickets in Australia’s second innings. I was close to getting a tattoo with the number 73.
I really miss the time when Kohli was captain and Siraj enjoyed the spotlight. He was the strike bowler and a headliner on Instagram. What I loved about him was that he could take a joke. The internet trolled him a lot, but the trolling never really became mocking. His “MD Siraj Official” reel is one of the funniest reels made by a cricketer ever.
But slowly, the number of wickets he took began to decline, and so did the number of times we got to see him.
Now, when I pass his restaurant and see his jerseys hanging there, I feel a little sad. They’re catching biryani masala instead of a cricket ball.
Siraj doesn’t owe us anything. He has already given Hyderabad enough reasons to be proud. But as a fan, I need him to make one nice comeback, take some wickets and do that Ronaldo pose.
I’m sure he will, because March 13-born Pisces are very likely to make a comeback. If Siraj can make one, so can I.
Sandesh
@msgfromsandesh
(This comedian is here to tell funny stories about Hyderabad)
(The writer’s views are his own)