Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has said Mohammed Siraj needs to curb his aggression after the latter’s animated send-off to Travis Head on day two of the Adelaide Test sparked controversy.
Siraj gave a fiery send-off to Head after castling his stumps with a yorker on day two of the day-night Test. The dismissal resulted in an altercation between the two before the batter angrily walked to the pavilion for a 141-ball 140, giving Australia a decisive lead in the first innings. The seamer was subject to boos from the crowd, which aggravated when Mitchell Starc, coming in to bat at No. 9, hit Siraj for a four off his first ball.
Speaking to Fox Cricket, Head himself said he was "slightly disappointed" by the aggressive reaction from Siraj: "If they want to react like that, and if that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it."
Head is not the only one to voice his displeasure about the incident. Taylor believes Siraj’s antics could result in a suspension unless he changes his behaviour.
"Mohammed Siraj, I don’t know exactly what happened between himself and Travis Head in his dismissal, but that’s not a good look. I don’t know who instigated it, but it’s not a good look, particularly when a guy makes 140," Taylor said on the Willow Talk Podcast.
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"I’d like to see someone have a little word to Mohammed Siraj. I like his competitive nature. He’s a fine bowler. But I’d like someone to have a word with him because I don’t like the fact that when he hits a guy on the pads, and he thinks he’s got him out lbw, he continues to run down the pitch, past the batsman, almost gets to the keeper and then looks around to the umpire to see if he’s going to give it out.
"That’s got to stop, and if it doesn’t stop shortly, someone, and it’ll be the umpires or the match referee who might stop it for him, and give him a game off. We don’t want that. Someone like a Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli needs to go up to him, and say 'mate, yeah be excited, be aggressive, get in batsmen’s face, love all that, but that is disrespecting the game and the umpire'."
Siraj finished the innings with 4-98, with Australia finishing on 337, 157 runs ahead of India’s first innings. The tourists in response lost half of their side for 128 at stumps on day two before being bowled out for 175 in the first session the next day. Australia won the match to level the five-match series 1-1.
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