The first salary Mohammed Siraj received as a cricketer was Rs. 500 ($10) after getting 9 wickets for 20 runs in a 25-over game.
On Monday, he bagged a Rs. 2.6 crore ($520,000) deal, with the Sunrisers Hyderabad team of the Indian Premier League at the IPL auctions in Bengaluru at the back of an impressive first-class season that also earned him call ups for India A and Rest of India sides. His base IPL price was Rs. 20 lakh ($40,000).
Coming from a lower middle-class family, Siraj said he is never expected to command such a massive price tag.
Mohammed Siraj Source: Facebook
“I was following the IPL player auctions, and I was hopeful of being picked. But I had not expected that it would be a jackpot. I am very happy,” he told Times Now.
“I am born and brought up in Hyderabad, and now playing for the city will be a great feeling,” he added.
Siraj said the first on his wish list is to buy a nice house for his parents in a good locality of Hyderabad.
“My father has worked very hard. He drove an auto rickshaw all these years but never let the financial pressure of the family affect me or my elder brother. A pair of bowling spikes cost a lot and he would just get the best for me,” he told PTI.
"My parents have seen hard days. Today my elder brother is a software engineer in a reputed IT firm. I didn't have interest in studies and my mother would bash me up giving my elder brother's example. But today she's on top of the world," he added.
Siraj has 44 wickets in 21 first-class innings.
