Indian quick Mohammed Siraj has become public enemy number one in Adelaide after his fiery send-off of Australian centurion Travis Head on Day 2 of the second Test – and former great Mark Taylor thinks it’s time his teammates pulled him into line.
Head admitted he was ‘slightly disappointed’ by the incident immediately following being bowled by Siraj for an epic run-a-ball 140, telling Fox Cricket post-play “if they want to react like that, and if that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it”.
Siraj was soundly booed by the Adelaide Oval crowd for the rest of Australia’s innings, and will likely receive similar treatment when he bats on Day 3.
Taylor, a former Australian Test captain and great of the game, told the Willow Talk podcast Siraj’s actions were ‘disrespecting the game’, taking issue not only with his send-off of Head, but also with his repeated ‘celebrappeals’ where he begins celebrating wickets without even looking back at the umpire – often for said umpire to rule the Australian batter not out, as happened when he thought he’d trapped Marnus Labuschagne LBW.
“I don’t know who instigated it, but it’s not a good look, particularly when a guy makes 140,” Taylor said of Siraj’s confrontation with Head.
“I’d like to see someone have a little word to Mohammed Siraj.
“I like his competitive nature, he’s a fine bowler… 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 – might stop it for him, and give him a game off. We don’t want that.”
Taylor urged senior Indian players, especially captain Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli, to ‘have a little word’ with the hot-tempered quick.
“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’,” he said.
Fellow host and former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin agreed, saying Siraj’s send-off was a ‘really bad look’, and suggested both Australian crowds and the team’s fast bowlers will have that fresh in their memories for the rest of the summer.
“I think what we’re going to see when he comes out to bat, these Australian quicks have got a long memory,” he said.
“It’s a long series. I think they’re going to go after him and remind him about what happened.”
However, former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, himself no stranger to an on-field outburst, had more sympathy for Siraj.
“There’s nothing untoward there. I think the umpires make that call [to warn Siraj] to say ‘just chill out a little bit’,” Lee said on Fox Cricket.
“The guy [Head] got 140, cops a spray – that wasn’t too bad.”
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