One day "cricket's future", the next "auto driver": pacer Siraj on trolling

New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj opened up on how abusive trolls are toxic and affected a person. Sharing his experience, he said that one day he was raised to be the "future of Indian bowling" and another day got asked to "drive an auto", IANS reported.

Siraj told RCB podcast, "It is easy to write abuses. But you don't know anything about his struggle. How can you abuse someone, then? Those messages kill your motivation. A guy is getting abused for no reason at all. Why? What's next?"

"One day, they call you the future of India, the next day, they claim you are nothing and should drive an auto. I don't understand this," he said.

He said that facing challenges and setbacks is part of everyone's life, and the best we can do is treat each other with respect.

"When you perform well, people start praising you so much, you are such a good bowler, next level. When I was retained, it was called best retention. Now they question why I was retained. There was no need for you to be retained. You aren't good enough to play cricket," Siraj said.

"Thank you for all the support but don't abuse anyone. Ups and downs are part of life. That's all I can say. The rest is up to you. You are aware of our struggle still, you behave like that with us. That doesn't affect us much, but as a human, all I can ask from you is respect everyone," he said.

Siraj began his IPL 2023 well with an economical bowling display in RCB's game against Mumbai Indians, where he dominated the MI batters with the new ball. He conceded 21 runs and picked up a wicket.

Since his impressive performance in the Australia 2020/21 Test series, Mohammed Siraj has experienced a sensational rise, he also reached the top of the ODI bowlers' rankings before the Australia series earlier this year.