India’s Mohammed Siraj, left, interacts with Australia’s Travis Head during the day three of the second cricket test match between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
India were thumped by 10 wickets in the Adelaide Test. However, the much-talking point of the game came when Mohammed Siraj rattled Travis Head’s stumps after the latter scored 140 and gave him a send-off. The duo was seen exchanging words among themselves and ICC would later slap both of them with a 20 per cent match fee.
“Well, I think ICC is a bit too strict on players. These things happen in the ground. Obviously, forget what has happened and move forward. The players have patched up and talked to each other. Anyways, ICC being ICC has sanctioned the players. Let’s put that aside now and let’s move forward which is obviously, Brisbane. Let’s focus on cricket rather than all these controversies. Enough is enough,” said Harbhajan.
“I said ‘well bowled’ but he thought otherwise … when he pointed me to the sheds he got a little bit back from me,” Head told Fox Cricket after the day’s play. “I’m slightly disappointed with how that transpired, with a couple of the past innings. It is what it is. If they want to react like that and that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it.”
However, Mohammed Siraj disagreed with Head’s comments, saying the Australian opener lied about the send-off incident.
“It was a great battle going on (with Head) and he batted really well. When you get hit for a six on a good ball, it fires you up differently,” Siraj told Star Sports Hindi. What he said in the press conference wasn’t right, it’s a lie that he only said ‘well bowled’ to me. It’s there for everyone to see that that’s not what he said to me.
“I’m sure Siraj and Head are mature individuals who will deal with it and the dust would have settled already,” Shastri wrote in a column for CODE Sports. If anything, I wouldn’t have expected anything else from a fast bowler after he’d been hit for a six. Siraj was letting off some steam. That’s the fast bowler’s temperament. You want it to be like that.”
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
