ABU DHABI: Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Mohammed Siraj, who ripped through Kolkata Knight Riders‘ top-order with a “magical performance”, said skipper Virat Kohli‘s surprise decision to hand him the new ball lifted his confidence in the IPL match.
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Siraj’s first three wickets came without conceding a run as he became the first bowler in IPL history to bowl two maidens in a single game. RCB restricted KKR to a paltry 84/8 and chased down the target in 13.3 overs.
Once Chris Morris generated swing early on, Siraj was asked to bowl the second over following a discussion with wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.

“We hadn’t planned that I would open but when we went out, Virat bhai said ‘Miyan, ready ho jao (Sir, get ready!), you will have to bowl…’ It boosted my confidence,” the Hyderabadi pacer, who returned with figures of 4-2-8-3, said after the eight-wicket win on Wednesday.
“Morris beat the batsmen (in the first over) and then Virat bhai spoke to AB de Villiers (behind the stumps) and gave me the bowl,” he added.

“Initially, I didn’t think it would swing so much after seeing the wicket. I just backed my strength and really enjoyed a lot.”
Brought in the second over, Siraj struck in his third ball with a good length ball that went away of Rahul Tripathi.
In his next delivery, he cleaned up Nitish Rana, with a ball that sharply cut back in and breached the left-hander’s defence. In the next over, he accounted for Tom Banton with another outswing delivery.

His bowling figures became the most economical this season.
A natural in-swing bowler, Siraj has been practising with the new ball and generating outswing in the practice sessions.
“I’ve been a natural inswing bowler but while practising I have started bowling outswing a lot better.
“In our practise sessions, we have Devdutt Padikkal and Parthiv Patel. I bowl the same length to them which I bowled to Nitish Rana. I did the same thing in the game and was able to execute it well,” he said.

Having endured a tough outing against the same side in 2019, it’s now a story of going from being zero to hero for Siraj.
Siraj was hammered for 36 runs in 2.2 overs before being removed from the attack for bowling two beamers as KKR chased down 206 with five balls to spare in their IPL 2019 match.
In the same game, Siraj had also dropped a sitter from Chris Lynn and faced a lot a criticism.
Often sidelined in presence of Chris Morris, Navdeep Saini and the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, Siraj got his fourth match on Wednesday when he was included in place of Shahbaz Ahmed.
“I’ve always had a lot of support from the RCB setup. All I wanted to do this year was give a magical performance. I wanted to do something different this year,” Siraj, who played his fourth match of the season, said.
“Whenever I used to think about my performance in the IPL, I had made up my mind that I would deliver a performance to remember. It’s about doing something different, something magical,” he concluded.

MANCHESTER: Manchester City came from behind to make a winning start in Champions League Group C on Wednesday with a 3-1 victory over Porto at the Etihad Stadium.
City had fallen behind to a fine 14th-minute solo strike from Luis Diaz but a Sergio Aguero penalty brought them level before second-half goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres secured the win.
Pep Guardiola’s side, defeated in the quarter-finals last season, struggled to find their fluidity in the opening 45 minutes but as Porto tired after the break, City’s quality proved enough.

“If I’m being honest we are struggling at the moment,” said German midfielder Gundogan.
“Fernandinho went off at the end, we have players playing in different positions. I am not 100% there because I had Covid, we are not all at the same moment.
“That is the challenge for this season, it’s not going to end for a while” he added
Porto grabbed the lead when City’s Ruben Dias, a recent signing from Benfica, gave away the ball and Colombian winger Diaz cut in from the left, burst diagonally across the City defence and shot into the far bottom corner of Ederson’s goal.

The home side were soon back on level terms though when, after Gundogan had struck the post, Porto defender Pepe bundled over Raheem Sterling in the resulting scramble and Aguero converted the ensuing penalty.
City were far from their flowing best but went in front in the 65th minute with a perfect, curling free kick from Gundogan over the wall and beyond the reach of Porto keeper Agustin Marchesin.
Substitutes Torres and Phil Foden then combined to make it 3-1, with the Spaniard collecting a return pass from the England midfielder before gliding into space and driving a right-foot shot into the far corner.
City’s Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho, brought on in the 85th minute, limped off in stoppage time with what appeared to be a muscle injury.
Porto remain without a win in 21 games in England, a run which has seen them manage just three draws.