Veteran India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik talked highly of Mohammed Siraj and said that he has the calibre of picking at least 300 wickets in Test cricket if injuries don’t hamper his career. Karthik plays alongside Siraj in Indian Premier League for Royal Challengers Bangalore and has watched his growth with close eyes. The young pacer made his Test debut on the India tour of Australia 2020-21 and led the pace attack in the fourth Test match in the absence of several senior stars. Siraj has now become an integral part of India’s Test set-up in the past couple of years.
He has performed consistently well in ODIs for the past year and is currently ranked number 1 in the ICC bowlers’ rankings.
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Karthik said that Siraj deserves a spot in the ODI World Cup squad later this year and revealed that an underwhelming IPL 2022 taught the pacer a lot of things.
“I’m very sure that he would be part of the 2023 World Cup team. He deserves that spot, he has done really well. The 2022 IPL taught him a lot of things about handling failures, and that has kept him in good stead. I see him as one of those — let’s just say he doesn’t get injuries — at least a 300-wicket Test bowler,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz’s ‘Rise of New India’.
The veteran glovesman further suggested that the most suited format for Siraj is Test while he still needs to work more on his T20I bowling credentials.
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“He definitely has the aptitude for that, he has the skill set for that. It’s only a matter of whether he can stay fit for that long. He has shown so far that he’s very reliable. His strongest in Test cricket, one-dayers will come after that. T20s is where he is still learning,” said Karthik further.
Siraj finished with five wickets from two outings against New Zealand including a four-wicket haul at his home ground in Hyderabad. This was after he took nine wickets during the three-match series against Sri Lanka.
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