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New Delhi: Sports have countless stories that involve grit, hard work and willpower. Cricket is no different, as many players have worked hard, made sacrifices, and never given up to succeed.
One such story is about India’s fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who was born in Hyderabad, where his father worked as an autorickshaw driver. Life was tough for his family and Siraj spent most of his time playing cricket, which often made his mother worried about his future.
In an interview with the Indian Express, the pacer was asked about the incident, when he was rebuked by his mother for not thinking about the future, to which he had replied: "Ek din aisa aayenga ki paise rakhne ki jagah nahi rahegi aapke paas,".
Siraj said that he remembers that day, when he was getting a sound beating from his mother, when he said that, and as usual, he was playing cricket, and his mother didn’t like it.
"She said, I don’t worry about my future. That’s when I asked her to stop beating me and that I would earn so much money one day that there wouldn’t be any place in the house to keep it. I told her, ‘You don’t worry, I will do it. It is said that of all the things one says during a day, one of those things comes true. So that day what I said was accepted by the almighty," Siraj said.
The fast bowler further added that confidence is very important if anyone wants to play top-level cricket, and if anyone doesn’t have confidence in themselves, they can’t do anything in life.
"Only if you have belief, will you achieve the goal you have set for yourself. If you believe that I can bowl a yorker and I will get a wicket, you will succeed. You also need to train for that. If you train hard, you will be able to execute in the match," he added.
Siraj took 23 wickets in the five-match Test series against England, which was the highest by a bowler from either side, and led the team to a famous win in the final Test, which helped the Shubman Gill-led team to level the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy 2-2.