All of the teams were required to submit their final list of retentions ahead of the mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) decided to part ways with their premier pacer, Mohammad Siraj, who has been supporting the franchise for the last seven seasons from 2018. The pacer could, however, be back in the team through the mega auction.
Siraj is the third highest-wicket taker for the RCB side with 83 scalps in 87 innings at an average of under 32, and a strike rate of nearly 22 with the help of one solitary four-wicket hauls at a best figure of 4/21 in the innings. The ‘Play Bold’ franchise decided to keep the left-arm pacer Yash Dayal in the side.
Last year, Siraj picked up 15 wickets in 14 innings at an economy rate of over nine and a strike rate of 21.6, besides picking up 19 wickets in 14 innings at an average of below 20 thanks to a superb economy rate of just over seven.
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The RCB franchise, without any hesitation, kept Virat Kohli as their very first retention for a price of INR 21 crore, while the middle order batter of the Blue Brigade, Rajat Patidar, stayed for INR 11 crore. The toss-up was always going to be between Siraj and Dayal, but because of the latter’s better outing in the previous season, the management decided to go with him.
RCB responds on the reason to omit Mohammad Siraj for the retention
The left-arm uncapped Indian pacer registered 15 wickets in 14 innings of the 2024 edition of the tournament at an average of 30.60 and an economy of 9.14 with a strike rate of 20 thanks to his best spell of 3/20. The suggestion to have a left-arm pacer on the side came from their head coach, Andy Flower, and that could be in the favor of Dayal.
“I‘m sure one of the surprises around our retentions will be the fact that we haven’t retained Mohamed Siraj. Mohamed Siraj is a successful international cricketer of some standing and has also been with RCB for the last eight years.” The former Zimbabwe player expressed after the official retentions were announced.
In T20Is for India, Siraj has featured in 16 games where he has accounted for 14 scalps, at an average of 32.28, at an economy of 7.79. The quality of the pacer is undoubtedly superb, but the management could look to get him back in the side at a cheap price.
“We want to look for some particular skills in the fast bowling department. We’ve already identified and retained one of those particular skills that we want, which is the left arm angle and T20 skills that Yash Dayal brings us.” The RCB coach expressed.
In the IPL 2022 mega auction, the Hyderabad-born was kept for INR 7 crore, but he has now been released. Keeping in mind the small dimensions and the batting-friendly surfaces of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Bengaluru, the director of the RCB MO Bobat admitted how much they thought regarding the retention of Siraj.
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“Probably the discussion that took up the most time for us was our decision to whether we retain or release Mohamed Siraj. When he’s got his tail up, he’s got that real fire that you can see that becomes infectious for the rest of the team.” Mo Bobat claimed.
“He bounces quite strongly off Virat, and those two as a combination have been quite powerful. It was a big decision for us to make to not retain Siraj because of all of those skills and attributes.” The RCB director of cricket addressed.
The mega auction of the IPL 2025 is expected to take place in the last week of November.
