I cried often in my room in Australia after my father's demise: Mohammed Siraj

India pacer Mohammed Siraj has opened up about his emotional battle after losing his father during the Australia tour saying he would often cry in his room while staying inside the COVIDinduced biobubbleThe pacer from Hyderabad lost his father Mohammed Ghaus after a brief illness in November 2020 when he was in Australia He couldnt attend his funeral due to quarantine restrictions which were in place due to the global pandemicIn Australia nobody could visit other players rooms as we spoke on video calls Siraj who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL told RCB Season 2 PodcastBut Sridhar sir former India fielding coach R Sridhar used to call often asking how are you what have you eaten etc It was a good feeling and my fiance was also talking to me over phone at that timeI never cried on the phone but there were occasions when I would cry in the room and then will talk to her laterSiraj who turned 29 on Monday also recollected how then head coach Ravi Shastri supported and encouraged himI went to training the next day after my fathers demise and Ravi Shastri told me that I have my dads blessing and I will take a fivewicket haul When I took five wickets at Brisbane he told me Look what did I tell you that you will take five wicketsIt was a lot of fun when my dad was around because he wanted to see his sons success He took a lot of pride and joy in seeing me putting all the hard workI always wanted to perform in front of my dad and the dream did come true but how I wish I could do it moreSiraj who was Indias highest wickettaker with 13 scalps during the historic 21 series win also recalled how the team battled through multiple injuries to key players to script a historic win in the fourth Test at BrisbaneAlso readBorderGavaskar Trophy Virat Kohlis 186 gives India 91run lead vs Australia in fourth TestI enjoyed bowling the most in Australia because I became a leader of the pace attack as all main bowlers were injured Bowling with the new ball was a different feeling altogether It was a big responsibility and I was so happy that I could fulfil itI wasnt even aware that Jassi bhai Jasprit Bumrah was not playing the last Test and I got to know about it when I came to the ground for the warmups We were informed in the team huddle that Jassi bhai was not playingI was shocked to hear that as the whole bowling lineup is so young I have played just two matches while Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini have played one match each But there was this unity among the youngsters which helped us in that matchSiraj also had a memorable outing in England in 2021 when he returned with a matchhaul of eight wickets to power India to a 151run win at LordsWe were 175 for 6 in the second innings and wanted to get as close to 200 a total that we were confident of defending But there was a great partnership between Jassi bhai and Mohammed Shami bhai and we got 250plus on the board said SirajIt was a different feeling and we declared the innings Then Virat bhai told us that we have 70 overs and bowl those overs with all your heart and make them feel 70 overs of hell So it gave us a lot of motivation and aggressionWe all know about Virat bhais aggression and seeing it we all get motivated We made English batsmen think is it our home ground or their home groundThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever