It was a surreal moment for left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth when he dismissed superstar Virat Kohli in front of a jam-packed Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday night. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were chasing 182 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and as usual, Kohli was firing all cylinders. The ace batter had struck a couple of boundaries and a six to accumulate 22 runs off 16 balls before he lost his shape and fell prey to Siddharth, becoming the 25-year-old’s maiden IPL wicket.
It was the 4th over when the Tamil Nadu spinner came into the attack and Kohli greeted him with a cracking boundary through the off-side. It was indeed a nervy start for the youngster but he didn’t lose hope and snapped back with a fuller delivery, slowing down the pace. The RCB opener was doing down the track but was tricked by the turn, getting a leading edge as the ball looped to backward point. His former opening partner, Devdutt Padikkal, backtracked a few steps to take an easy catch.
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A maiden wicket is always special and if the dismissed batter is Virat Kohli, it’s enough for a bowler to be on cloud nine. With his arms wide open, Siddharth began running across the field before jumping in the air and giving a high-five to fellow spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Who is M Siddharth?
The off-spinner from Tamil Nadu was a member of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2020 and Delhi Capitals in 2021. But his IPL journey was halted due to an injury. With impressive performances for his state and in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Siddharth managed to make his way back into the cash-rich tournament. He picked up 11 wickets in 9 matches for Lyca Kovai Kings last year, at an impressive economy rate of 5.61 – best for any bowler in the tournament to have bowled a minimum of 20 overs.
Came the players’ auction in Dubai when he went under the hammer. LSG raised the paddle and even RCB entered the fray. Starting from a base price of Rs 20 Lakh, the bidding continued until Lucknow roped him in for a whopping amount of Rs 2.4 crore.
Domestic debut
In 2019, Siddharth made his T20 debut for Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking up 12 wickets in the season. But it was Dinesh Karthik who suggested him to bowl in the Powerplay, completely changing his role forever.
The same year he made his First-class debut, against Punjab, and has played 7 games so far and has picked 27 wickets, including 2 four-wicket hauls. But it took him another couple of years to play his first List A match for his state. He has played 17 50-over games with 26 wickets.
Early life
After spending his early years in Indonesia, he moved to India at the age of 8 and started pursuing his cricketing dreams. Son of a club cricketer, Siddharth wanted to be a fast-bowling all-rounder like Irfan Pathan but ended up being a left-arm orthodox bowler.
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