Mian Ready Ho Jao: When Virat Kohli surprised Mohammed Siraj asking him to bowl with new ball

Abu Dhabi, October 21: Mohammed Siraj was the star performer for Royal Challengers Bangalore, picking up three wickets in the Power Play segment against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2020 match here on Wednesday (October 21).

Siraj, who was adjudged later as man of the match, admitted that him bowling with new ball was a decision taken by Virat Kohli on the feet considering the conditions.

"First I want to thank Allah for my performance. Then thanks to Virat bhai for giving me the new ball. I have been practising a lot with the new ball. We hadn't planned that I will open but when we went out, Virat bhai said 'Miyan ready ho jao.' The ball to Rana was very good as it was Executed exactly in the way I had planned," Siraj said in the post-match presentation.

Kohli also endorsed Siraj's views, saying they had planned to open the bowling with Washington Sundar and Chris Morris. But Kohli changed his mind and asked Morris and Siraj to operate with the new ball.

"I was thinking Washington for the new ball. It was a good toss to lose because we would have batted first as well. The plan was to bowl Washington and Morris, but then we thought let's go with Morris and Siraj," Kohli told the host broadcaster.

Kohli said the RCB management backed Siraj despite the pace bowler having a terrible IPL 2019 where he struggled to take wickets and leaked runs plenty.

"Last year Siraj had a tough year and a lot of people went hard at him. This year he has worked hard and was bowling well in the nets. He has seen the results now but we want him to keep following the process," said Kohli.

Siraj, Morris and Yuzvendra Chahal combined to limit Kolkata Knight Riders to 84 for 8 and RCB strolled to an eight-wicket win.