Mohammed Siraj reveals how seniors MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli guide youngsters in team

For most youngsters who make it to the Indian team, MS Dhoni remains a stalwart. During his days as the captain, Dhoni believed in giving youngsters enough games so that their skills, mindset and temperament got tuned up to international cricket faster and in 2011, his strategy of giving the players maximum opportunity for exposure paid off as the Men in Blue lifted their second world title after 28 years.

Dhoni’s successor Virat Kohli, too, believes in giving the maximum opportunity to the players. Dhoni is seen giving youngsters inputs from behind the stumps and also making them feel at home by pushing them to lift a trophy whenever India win one. After the final of the Asia Cup in the UAE last September, Dhoni was seen encouraging young pacer Khaleel Ahmed to lift the trophy and the gesture was appreciated by the latter.

Now, another young Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has said the same about the two senior players in the team – Dhoni and Kohli. He has revealed how the senior duo spend time individually with the young players and guide them with key advice for improvement.

‘I was asked not to experiment too much with the ball’

“They (Kohli and Dhoni) spent time with all bowlers individually. Coaches (Bharat) Arun and Ravi (Shastri) sir’s inputs were also very good. They told me to bowl in the nets like I would bowl in match conditions and that helped me get a lot of focus. They instructed me not to try experiment too much, just bowl back of a length as much as possible,” Siraj was quoted as saying by CricketNext.

The 24-year-old Hyderabad bowler made his ODI debut against Australia in Adelaide in January though he went for some runs in that game without picking any wicket. His T20I debut, however, came in November 2017 and has played three matches in that format, picking three wickets in all. In Australia, Siraj played as the replacement for Jasprit Bumrah and will feature in the Royal Challengers Bangalore team led by Kohli in the Indian Premier League starting later this month.

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