New Delhi: Australian player Travis Head has reacted to his controversial send-off by Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj during the second day of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy match at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday. The left-handed batter scored 141 runs off 140 balls to power his team to 337, leading to 157-run lead in the first innings.
Head was cleaned up by a low full-toss delivery from Siraj and it followed with the latter displaying animated celebrations and gestured the local boy to leave. Well that didn’t go well with the crowd as they booed the Indian pacer, of course, no one could see such treatment given to their own home-grown player.
Revealing about the words of exchange in the post-day press conference, Head gave a brief information of the scene that unfolded but decided not to delve too much into it.
“I actually jokingly said ‘well bowled’ and then he pointed me in (to go to) the shades. I had my reaction as well but I would not like to give (it) too much airtime,” Head told the media in a press conference.
Earlier in that innings, Siraj had dropped Head when the southpaw was batting at 76 off Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling in the 68th over. Head said that he was a bit shock with the reaction and decided to stand for himself, leading to a response on the field.
“I was surprised at the reaction in terms of the situation of the game and the lead up and there was no confrontation leading up to it and I felt like it was probably, a little bit far at the time,” Head said.
“That’s why I’m disappointed in the reaction that I gave back but I’m also going to stand up for myself. I’d like to think in our team that we wouldn’t do that, it’s not how I’d like to play the game and I’d feel like my teammates (are) the same and if I’d seen that in that circumstances, I’d probably call it out, which I did,” he added.
Travis Head scored fastest Test century in pink-ball format
Head smashed 17 boundaries and four sixes at an impressive strike rate of 99.29 to notch up his eighth Test century. This came off 111 balls, making the South Australian batter to record the fastest century in the pink-ball format. It was his second three-figure score against India after the match-winning performance in the World Test Championship final in London.
Travis Head’s impressive 141-run innings in the second Border-Gavaskar Test was overshadowed by a controversial send-off from Mohammed Siraj. Siraj’s animated celebration and gesture sparked a heated exchange, with Head later expressing his disappointment in the reaction but defending his own response. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
