Rival captains Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma have taken no issue with the conduct of their respective players during a heated exchange between Australia batter Travis Head and India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj on day two of the second Test.
Siraj today publicly disputed Head’s account of what transpired between the pair after Australia’s Test vice-captain was bowled one delivery after he lifted Siraj beyond the boundary rope at square leg, ending his match-turning innings of 140 from 141 balls.
Head claimed in a media conference after day two he had jokingly told Siraj ‘well bowled’ as the fiery quick launched an extravagant celebration of his belated breakthrough.
That prompted Siraj to signal demonstratively towards the Australia dressing room, which in turn led Head to fire back with a few more words as he walked off and gestured towards the India team dug out before acknowledging a standing ovation.
While India skipper Rohit acknowledged a fine line exists between being combative and going too far, he had no problem with the behaviour of Siraj who was roundly booed by the crowd at Head’s home ground Adelaide Oval on Saturday evening and again today.
Rohit was fielding at slip when the confrontation unfolded and was not privy to the words that passed between the pair, but described it as “interesting” and noted it’s the sort of competitive response that characterise high-stakes Australia-India Test battles.
“He (Siraj) likes to get into the batters, as simple as that,” Rohit said in the wake of Australia’s 10-wicket win that levelled the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series at 1-1.
“It gives him success and as a captain it’s my job to back their aggression.
“Obviously there is a fine line between that, and we don’t want to cross anything that can bring dispute into the game.
“But obviously having a word or two with the opposition is not a bad thing and he (Siraj) likes it.
“That’s what gets him going. In that past we’ve seen so many cricketers that like that battle and Siraj is definitely one of them.”
Cummins was also on the field during the exchange that electrified the capacity crowd on day two of a match that was completed before the first session break on day three, standing at the non-striker’s end when events unfolded.
He said after stumps he was not aware of any reports lodged by on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Richard Gaffaney, or by match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
However, Cummins claimed the immediate intervention of the on-field official quickly de-fused the febrile atmosphere.
And he didn’t venture an opinion on the response of India players and Siraj who had raised the crowd’s ire on day one when he threw the ball towards Marnus Labuschagne who had pulled out of his batting stance at the last moment due to a disturbance behind the sightscreen.
“To be honest, they (India) can do whatever they want,” Cummins said.
“(I’m) more worried about our boys but like always I thought our boys’ behaviour was excellent this week like it seems to be every week.
“It’s heated, it’s a big series. There’s been packed crowds all of the days so there’s a lot riding on it.
“As a general rule you let the boys be themselves. If you need to step in and intervene then as captain I would, but for our group I never really feel like I’ve had to do that.
“Travis Head is vice-captain of the team. He’s a big boy, he can talk for himself.”
In an interview conducted in Hindi on Star Sports India’s pre-game broadcast from Adelaide Oval today, Siraj claimed Head had misrepresented the nature of the exchange when he addressed a media conference after stumps on Saturday.
Siraj conceded it was the sight of Head crunching one of his “good balls” beyond the boundary rope immediately prior to him rattling the Australia left-hander’s stumps that provoked his celebration, which in turn triggered Head.
But he disputed Head’s version of events in that he didn’t hear his rival say to him ‘well bowled’ though he did not reveal the precise nature of the verbal stoush.
“As a bowler when he hits you for six off your good balls, something stirs in the blood, inside you (and the) the passion rises,” Siraj said in the interview with former India spin bowler Harbhajan Singh.
“My celebration after bowling him, I was just celebrating, but his abusive reaction can be seen on television.
“If you see, at the start I didn’t say a word, I was just celebrating only initially.
“Later, at the press conference, he (Head) said wrong things. He claimed he said ‘well bowled’ to me but that’s a lie, there was no ‘well bowled’ that I could see.
“And he talked about respect. I mean, we respect everyone; we don’t disrespect. I always have respected people as cricket is a gentleman’s game.”
The rival pair were seen exchanging a handshake and brief hug as the teams filed past one another at game’s end, with the Australia batting hero keen to draw a line under the drama.
“He’s (Siraj) come out then and said it was a little bit of a misunderstanding … I think we’ll move on,” Head told ABC Grandstand in an interview after Australia’s 10-wicket win today.
“We’ve had a great week, so let’s not ruin it … I’m sweet, and I think he’s the same, and we move on.”
Siraj’s animosity towards Adelaide’s hometown hero – who was named Player of the Match for the third consecutive Test played at the venue – ensured he immediately became a crowd villain.
When he returned to his fielding position on the boundary at the completion of the offending over, Siraj gestured towards fans as if trying to get them to make even more noise than was coming from the grandstands.
A day later, when he went out to bat with India 9-166 and on the cusp of a thumping defeat, he was jeered all the way to the centre and might have been dismissed for a first-ball duck if another local boy Alex Carey had held a diving catch off Cummins.
But when Siraj skied a catch off the bowling of Scott Boland shortly after, the fans at Adelaide Oval – which hosted the largest Test attendance for an Australia-India fixture (135,012) even though it lasted just seven sessions – celebrated as Head held the catch.
Rohit was quick to downplay the impact Siraj’s new-found status as anti-hero for Australia fans would likely have on the 30-year-old who forms a potent new-ball partnership with India’s foremost fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
“I don’t think it matters too much,” Rohit said of the potential effect the persistent booing might have on Siraj.
“All our guys are used to playing in (front of) such big crowds.
“When things go well they support, when things don’t go well they don’t support.
“That happens everywhere but Siraj knows what he needs to do for the team and he will do everything that is required.
“His job is to take wickets and he will do everything he can to try and get wickets for his team.
“All those things that happen outside, guys are quite mature now to keep those things outside and not to let them effect their game.
“Siraj is one of them.”
NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India
First Test: India won by 295 runs
Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets
Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT
Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal
