"When my IPL went bad, I wanted to get better in white ball cricket as well" - Mohammed Siraj after inspired spell against SL in Thiruvananthapuram

Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has said that a poor IPL tournament motivated him to do well in limited-overs cricket and that a couple of good performances in ODIs gave him the required confidence. The right-arm paceman also said that he aims to maintain consistency and expects results to follow.

Siraj has taken big strides in the 50-over format recently, notably in the last couple of series. The final ODI against Sri Lanka in Thiruvanthapuram on Sunday saw the 28-year-old tear through the opposition, bagging figures of 10-1-32-4 to bundle them out for 73 after India had posted a mammoth 390.

That took his wickets tally in the three-game series to nine at 10.22 and an economy rate of 4.05 as the Men in Blue made a series clean sweep.

At a press conference after India's crushing 317-run win, Siraj said:

"When my IPL went bad, I thought I wanted to get better in white ball cricket as well. I slowly started working on white ball skills. When I did well in 1-2 ODIs, I got the confidence that I would be able to do well in limited-overs cricket."

The Hyderabad-born pacer, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, managed only nine wickets in 15 games in the 2022 edition at 57.11 at an economy rate of 10.08. Nevertheless, the franchise has retained him for the upcoming season.

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"Even when I don't pick wickets, I wanted to be satisfied with bowling good lines and lengths" - Mohammed Siraj

Indian cricket team (Image Credits: Twitter)

Siraj added that he hardly thinks about performances and looks to attack the opposition for wickets regardless of the runs he concedes. He said:

"I don't want to focus a lot on end results. Earlier, I used to think a lot about my performance. Nowadays, I have started to realise that regardless of my performance, I want to be consistent with lines and lengths with each delivery I bowl. Then my performance slowly started to improve."

He continued:

"Even when I don't pick wickets, I wanted to be satisfied with bowling good lines and lengths. This series has gone really well. My plan was to get wickets with the new ball and put pressure on the opposition. I didn't mind giving a boundary or two; wickets with the new-ball can put the opposition on the back foot."

Siraj will next be in action in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand in Hyderabad, starting on Wednesday (January 17). It will also be his first game at his home ground.