Did Mohammed Siraj shared cryptic Instagram story for missing Arjuna Award?

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India pacer Mohammed Siraj kept the fans guessing with a cryptic post on his official Instagram handle on Thursday (December 21).

The right-arm quick from Hyderabad, who is in South Africa with the Indian national cricket team, posted heartbreak emojis on his Instagram story which sparked speculations on social media over what could be the reason for his reaction.

Fans and cricket enthusiasts started their guess. Some fans started wondering if Siraj was hurt for not featuring in the Arjuna Award list announced by the Union Government on Wednesday (December 20). Then others believed the 29-year-old was hurt by the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were not part of the T20I side.

Siraj's India teammate Mohammed Shami is the only cricketer amongst 26 athletes chosen for the prestigious Arjuna Award for their contribution to the field of sport in 2023. Shami - who was the leading wicket-taker in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup - will receive the second-highest sporting honour in the country next month.

Siraj - who had an equally good 2023 - has been part of some of the most famous wins for Team India. His sensational seven-wicket-haul in the Asia Cup 2023 final against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

While Shami has been ruled out of the tour of South Africa, Siraj is part of the limited-overs as well as the Test side. Team India play the third and deciding ODI against the Proteas on Thursday (December 21) and Siraj will be an important player for the KL Rahul-led side.

Team India will be playing two Tests with the first one starting on December 26-30 and the second match will be played between January 3 and 7, 2024. SuperSport Park in Centurion will host the first Test, and the second will be held in Newlands.

India's squad for South Africa Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk).