Former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Ravi Shastri commented on the feud between Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head during the Australia vs India second Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The incident happened in the first innings of the second Test. At first, Head, who had already hit a century and played a crucial role in giving Australia a massive first innings lead, hit Siraj for a huge six. It’s not easy to get hit for a six in a high-volume series like BGT.
Siraj, later, took Head’s stumps with a masterful delivery and went furious in his celebration, punching in the air and screaming.
After the momentary heat, both players had hugged it off after the match, but the ICC punished them by slapping 1 demerit point on each. Siraj even got a fine of 20% match fee.
Former Cricketers Comment on Siraj vs Head Feud
Ravi Shastri and Harbhajan Singh responded to the incident, with the former saying:
“I’m sure Siraj and Head are mature individuals who will deal with it and the dust would have settled already,” said Shastri.
“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,” Shastri added.
Ravi Shastri, who had one Test series in Australia as a coach in Virat Kohli’s captaincy era, has a more fiery approach.
“When I was playing, my philosophy was to give it back as good as you get. And it’s exactly what I would tell my players when I was coaching India in Australia. Do not hold back one bit,” he added.
Harbhajan Singh, on the other hand, asked to let things go and concentrate on the cricket ahead.
“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.”
India will meet Australia in the 3rd Test of the series in Brisbane on December 14.
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