Mohammed Siraj after selected in the T-20 squad against New Zealand. The day Mohammed Siraj was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for a massive amount of Rs 2.6 crore, he had only one dream. That was never to let his father Mohammed Ghaus drive auto rickshaw again and he kept his promise. As he savored his maiden call-up to the Indian team for the T20 series against New Zealand, one could measurement the sense of satisfaction in Siraj's.

The 23-year-old right-arm pacer has been on the outer edge with some decent performances for India ‘A’ but he didn't expect a call-up this early. While IPL got him acknowledgment, Siraj feels that it's his hard work in the Ranji Trophy during the 2016-17 seasons for Hyderabad that has resulted in all the success that he has got.

Whatever, Siraj today is primarily because of Ranji Trophy performance. His 40-odd wickets last season gave me the confidence. There's nothing like getting wickets in first-class cricket. I was picked for Rest of India after that and because of Ranji Trophy, I got the IPL deal. So 60 percent credit for this call-up is the performance in first-class cricket. Siraj believes and fell very blessed that Indian team bowling Coach Bharath Arun's tips when he was with Hyderabad last year proved to be of immense help.

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