This is how MS Dhoni’s advice changed Mohammad Siraj’s life

India pacer Mohammed Siraj has spoken about how former India skipper MS Dhoni’s advice changed his life. Siraj made his international debut in T20Is in 2018 and made his ODI debut next year. He hasn’t had much success in limited-overs cricket but has had a great time in Test format.

In 12 Tests, he has picked 36 wickets with one five-wicket haul against Australia last year. The right-arm pacer has become one of the main bowlers in the Indian setup. Also, last year, Bangalore decided to retain him alongside former skipper Virat Kohli and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.

Meanwhile, Siraj had a terrible time during the Indian T20 League 2019 after a game against Kolkata. He conceded 36 runs in just 2.2 overs and bowled two-beamers which forced him out of bowling. This incident bought a lot of negative comments for the Hyderabad-born player. MS Dhoni then advised the pacer to not take the criticism on the heart as same people will praise him later.

‘You do well today and they’ll praise you and when you don’t the same people will abuse you. So don’t ever take it seriously.’ And yes, the same people who trolled me incessantly back then say ‘you’re the best bowler bhai’. So, I know. I don’t want anybody’s opinion. I’m the same Siraj I was back then,” Siraj said on ‘RCB podcast’.

The Bangalore pacer added that he thought his performance in the 2019 season was the end of his career but he realised that the age was on his age.

“2019 the performance with RCB was so bad that I thought that is the end of my IPL career. But then I realized that I still have age on my side. So I decided to trust myself a bit and thankfully the RCB management also backed me. I almost thought any franchise in their position would have let go of a bowler after that kind of performance, but they backed me, and then 2020 the game against KKR was a life-changing game for me,” he added.