Mohammed Siraj later clarified Head was lying in the press conference and never said, “Well bowled”.
Travis Head and Mohammed Siraj were involved in another short conversation on the third day of the Adelaide Test when Siraj came to bat. While the conversation wasn’t clear, the two probably tried clarifying what transpired yesterday and what the two said in the press conference later after the game.
Head stated he appreciated Siraj for bowling a wonderful ball to dismiss him, but Siraj misbehaved. However, on Star Sports, Mohammed Siraj later clarified Head was lying in the press conference and never said, “Well bowled”.
“I was enjoying bowling to him. It was a good battle because he batted really well. It feels bad when a batter hits you for a six on a good ball. That gave me an energy. After bowling him out, I celebrated. Then he abused me. You can see it on TV as well. At the start, it was my celebration. I didn’t say anything to him. In the press conference, he said the wrong thing. He lied. Noway he said well-bowled. We respect everyone. I always respect everyone because cricket is a gentleman’s game. Travis Head’s actions were wrong. I did not feel good.”
There’s no clarity about who said what, but Head never intended to applaud Siraj, and his gestures showed this. This matter won’t be settled soon, and we might be in for more controversy in the coming times.
Australia didn’t waste enough time to take the remaining five wickets on the third day and bundled them on a mere 175 in the third innings. Pat Cummins took five wickets for 55 runs, while Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc dismissed three and two batters each.
Later in the chase, Australia took only 3.2 overs to chase the target of 19 runs and won the game comprehensively by ten wickets. Travis Head scored a marvellous ton in the first innings and grabbed the Player of the Match award.
His innings was crucial in taking the game away from India. While the matter has revolved around Head and Siraj, that shouldn’t take anything away from that knock.
There will be a lot of verbal battles coming in the series, especially after Australia’s win. It will be interesting to see how the Indian team counters everything directed at them.
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