Ian Bishop's bold assessment of Mohammed Siraj's redemption arc in IPL 2025: ‘He has jumped ahead of Shami’
Siraj was a force to reckon with against Sunrisers in his home ground and claimed a four-wicket haul to dismantle the star-studded batting line-up.
Legendary West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop has asserted that Mohammed Siraj has jumped ahead of Mohammed Shami in terms of effectiveness in white-ball formats. Siraj started the IPL 2025 on a positive note as he produced back-to-back match-winning performances against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has claimed 9 wickets in four matches and is currently placed in the second spot in the purple cap race.
He was a force to reckon with against Sunrisers in his home ground and claimed a four-wicket haul to dismantle the star-studded batting line-up. He also made RCB pay the price of not retaining him by claiming three wickets at Chinnaswamy Stadium last week.
On the other hand, Mohammed Shami has claimed only five wickets in as many matches at an economy rate of 9.29. He did a decent job against the Titans with economical figures of 2/28 but he has yet to make a big impact for his new franchise this season. He was picked ahead of Siraj in the Champions Trophy squad, but now it seems like the GT pacer has raced away from him.
Bishop talked about the two Indian pacers and said since the five-wicket haul in the Champions Trophy against Bangladesh, Shami has failed to produce a big performance.
“Since Shami got that five-wicket haul in the Champions Trophy, I don’t think we have seen that Shami again since then. He’s 34, nearly 35. It was two seasons ago that Siraj got ten wickets in the powerplay for RCB and only five last year, so his powerplay bowling had dropped off a bit," Bishop said while speaking on ESPNCricinfo.
“If Siraj continues bowling as he has done…”
After going wicketless in his opening game, Siraj claimed 2-34 against Mumbai Indians, 3-19 against Bengaluru at the venue he called home for seven years and a match-winning 4-17 during Sunday's seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Bishop assessed about Siraj's bowling in the recent IPL matches and said if he continues to bowl the same way, he will start contributing more across all the phases of the game.
“But he (Siraj) looks better now. If he continues to hit that length he is bowling and uses the seam, he looks, right now, as if he has jumped ahead of Mohammed Shami. If Siraj continues bowling as he has done in the last two games, I think he will offer slightly more across phases," Bishop added.
