IPL 2025: ‘Bowled Well, Didn’t He’? - RCB coach Andy Flower Hails GT’s Siraj, But Does Not Regret Letting Him Go

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower was full of praise for Mohammed Siraj after the Gujarat Titans pacer made a memorable return to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru during IPL 2025 match 14 on Wednesday (April 2).

Siraj, who spent seven seasons with RCB, came back to haunt his former side in what looked like a statement to the franchise that released him ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

The 31-year-old performed exceedlingly well on Wednesday night, snapping three wickets and conceded just 19 runs at an economy of 4.8 in his spell of four overs. He took the wickets of Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, and Liam Livingstone in his spell.

Following the match, Flower did not shy away from acknowledging Siraj's effort and how he threatened the stumps right from the very first ball, but the RCB head coach was happy with the options his team, indicating they had a good auction.

"Siraj bowled very well, didn't he? It is great for him to come here and do that. I thought he bowled an outstanding spell with the new ball. His lines were tight, and the lengths were good. He threatened the stumps a lot,' Flower said in the post-match press conference.

"We all rate Siraj very highly, and we love him. I think we had a good auction. I wish him all the success in the world. We are happy with the squad that we have got," he added, putting faith in the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dhar and the rest of the pace attack.

After a shambolic start to his stint with the Titans, Siraj found his groove and rhythm from the second match and carried that into the outing against RCB, against whom he opened his wicket's account by cleaning up Devdutt Padikkal before he castled Phil Salt.

Having already dented RCB inside the powerplay, Siraj returned to the attack in the death overs and got his third scalp of the day, forcing a top edge from Liam Livingstone (54), denting RCB's hopes of crossing the 200-run mark. He was awarded the Player of the Match for this brilliant performance.

After receiving the player of the match award, Siraj opened up about his stint with RCB and how he has worked in the break on his return to Gujarat Titans, who bought the pacer for Rs 12.25 Crore.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, the fast bowler said, "I was a bit emotional. I was here for 7 years, changed jersery from red to blue and was emotional but once I got the ball I was fine. I am Ronaldo's fan and hence the celebration.

"I had been playing consistently, but during the break I corrected my mistakes and worked on my fitness. Once I was picked up by Gujarat Titans, I spoke to Ashish Bhai. He (Nehra) tells me to go enjoy your bowling and Ishu (Ishant) Bhai tells me what line and length to bowl. My mindset is to have belief and then the pitch does not matter."