Only last week, Mohammed Siraj’s pictures at his late father’s grave floated on the internet. The Hyderabad pacer’s father passed away when he hadn’t even donned the whites for India. But keeping a strong mind-set, Siraj jumped into the Sydney game, only to be showered with racist abuses later. Fighting all the odds, the assumingly toxic atmosphere, the 26-year-old returned as the highest Indian wicket taker of the series with 13 scalps. He was the third on the overall bowlers list in the series, Pat Cummins leading the charts with 21 wickets.

On Friday, India head coach Ravi Shastri took on to social media to describe the rookie seamer as the ‘find of thr series’. Highlighting the fact that Siraj was able to deliver and aid India in retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy inspite the conditions being harsh, Shastri lauded the Hyderabad player. 

“Find of the tour for shoring up the bowling attack the way he did – Mohd Siraj. He fought through personal loss, racial remarks and channelised them to find home in the team huddle,” Shastri tweeted in appreciation of the 26-year-old pacer.

Siraj could not return to India after his father, who was an auto driver, died barely a week after he landed in Australia with the Indian team in November last year. He also faced racial abuse from a section of the crowd in Sydney during the third Test.

Despite all this, Siraj finished the series as the team came from behind to script a memorable 2-1 win.

In the fourth Test in Brisbane, Siraj led a young Indian bowling attack, picking up his maiden five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game. He returned with match figures of seven for 150 as India beat Australia by three wickets in the series-deciding Test at the Gabba.

On Thursday, Siraj revealed that on-field umpires had offered his team the option of leaving the third Test against Australia midway after he was subjected to racial abuse by the crowd in Sydney, a proposal that was turned down by skipper Ajinkya Rahane.