Mohammed Siraj has voiced out that he didn’t let the racial abuses in Australia affect his game, returning with 13 wickets in the Test series. In fact, he has stated that it only made him stronger before revealing that the umpires gave them an option to walk off the Sydney Test on Day four.

After an injury to Mohammed Shami, the Indian management rewarded Mohammed Siraj with an Indian cap for his consistent performance on the domestic scene. Siraj made a quick impact for the Indian team, as he picked up wickets in an equal interval against the mighty Australians at their own home. However, he had to go through a lot during the course of the series – from his father’s death to suffering an incident of racial abuse in the Sydney Test. 

Following a successful series, where he picked up 13 wickets and surely showed a new ray of hope to the management, Siraj voiced out that he didn’t let the racial abuse affect his performance. In fact, he only went on to stress that the abuses from the crowd made him a stronger person mentally. 

“The abuses which I faced in Australia made me mentally stronger. I didn’t let them affect my game. I faced abuses in Australia. The case is going on, let’s see whether I get justice or not. My job was to report the incident to the captain,” Siraj said, reported The Sportstar. 

“The umpires offered us to leave the game but Rahane (bhai) said we won’t leave the game. We did no mistake, so we will play,” he added.

Despite the numerous bout of incidents in Australia, Siraj continued to play and went on to become one of the heroes of the Indian contingent – both on the field and off the field. His performance had certainly elevated the performance of the rest of the unit, as India came away with a back to back series win in Australia, for the first time in their history. 

Upon landing in the country, the pacer also went to pay tribute to his father, Mohammed Ghouse, who passed away before the start of the four-match Test series.