Mohammed Siraj Credits Ravi Shastri For Getting Him Back On His Feet In Historic Australia Tour

New Delhi: India's tour of Australia 2020-21 was one of the tour where India's bench strength got tested and reigned supreme in conditions which were completely alien to them. Mohammed Siraj was one of the find in that tour in which India made a memorable comeback to take the series 2-1. Siraj remembers that tour as bittersweet as he lost his father just before the start.

Siraj credits Ravi Shastri (head coach at that time) for his performance in the tour. Siraj said that it was indeed Shastri's word which instilled confidence in him to perform in that tour. "When my dad passed away, then Ravi sir supported me. He came up to me and said 'see Miyan, your dad would have wanted you to take five wickets on this tour. I was very emotional, depressed and shattered. I couldn't understand what was going on. We were under hard quarantine," Siraj told Boria Majumdar on his show 'Backstage with Boria'.

The 28-year old fast bowler also revealed that he was emotional and depressed on that tour. He couldn't understand what was going on. He also stated that hard quarantine on the tour did not help either.

"I couldn't figure what to do should I have flown back home or stay here and fulfill dad's dream. Then I thought that had I gone back, I would have had to undergo quarantine there as well. So I thought it would be better to continue being in Australia and fulfil my father's dream. My dad's dream made me strong during that time. I totally was lost. Due to quarantine rules, being in one room was all we could do. But I still remember, that it was what also made me tough and gave me the strength to deal with everything."

Siraj ended the tour on a high with a fifer in the 3rd innings including the crucial scalp of Steve Smith who had already crossed 50.