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After registering a 8-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, Gujarat Titans right-arm seamer Mohammed Siraj spoke about his mindset while bowling in the 14th clash of the ongoing 18th edition of the cash-rich league.
Siraj performed exceedlingly well against his former team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru where he snapped three wickets and conceded just 19 runs at an economy of 4.8 in his spell of four overs. The speedster took the wickets of Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, and Liam Livingstone in his spell. He was awarded the Player of the Match for this brilliant performance. Speaking at the post-match presentation, the fast bowler said, "I was a bit emotional. I was here for 7 years, changed jersery from red to blue and was emotional but once I got the ball I was fine. I am Ronaldo's fan and hence the celebration. I had been playing consistently, but during the break I corrected my mistakes and worked on my fitness. Once I was picked up by Gujarat Titans, I spoke to Ashish Bhai. He (Nehra) tells me to go enjoy your bowling and Ishu (Ishant) Bhai tells me what line and length to bowl. My mindset is to have belief and then the pitch does not matter." Coming to the match, RCB was put to bat first by GT, who won the toss and opted to field. As ex-RCBian Mohammed Siraj (3/19) reduced RCB to 42/4, a 52-run stand between Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma (33 in 20 balls, with five fours and a six) and a 46-run stand for the seventh wicket between Livingstone (54 runs from 40 balls) and Tim David (32 in 18 balls, with three fours and two sixes) helped RCB make 169/8 in their 20 overs. Sai Kishore (2/22) and Prasidh Krishna (1/26) were also impressive with the ball. During the run-chase, GT lost their skipper Shubman Gill (14) early, but top knocks from Jos Buttler (73* in 39 balls, with five fours and six sixes), Sai Sudharsan (49 in 36 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Sherfane Rutherford (30* in 18 balls, with a four and three sixes) took GT to a win with 13 balls and eight wickets in hand. Siraj won the 'Player of the Match' for his spell. Now, RCB is at third place in the points table with two wins and a loss, giving them four points. GT is a spot below them with same win-loss record and points. (ANI)
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