Travis Head has said he is “disappointed” with India pacer Mohammed Siraj’s animated send-off on the second afternoon in Adelaide, stating he expected a “better reaction” from the pace bowler. However, Siraj, who had earlier dropped Head in the 70s and given away a few runs to him, including a four and a six in the same over when he dismissed him with a brilliant ball, followed it up with an angry send-off and a few heated words as well.
“I said, ‘well bowled,’ but he thought otherwise when he pointed me towards the sheds. He got a little bite back from me,” Head told Fox Cricket. “Slightly disappointed with the way that transpired. It is what it is. If they want to react like that, and if that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it.”
In the press conference, Head expressed his “surprise” at Siraj’s reaction. “I don’t want to give it too much air time, but I feel like the way I play the game, I would have liked a better reaction,” he said. “I was surprised at the reaction in terms of the situation of the game and the lead-up. There was no confrontation leading up to him, and I felt like it was probably, yeah, a little bit far at the time, and 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 that, in our team we wouldn’t do that. It’s not how I’d like to play the game, and I feel like my teammates are the same. And if I had seen that in that circumstance, I’d probably call it out, which I did.”
However, Mohammed Siraj shared his version of the events before the third day’s play started.
“It was a great battle going on and he batted really well,” he said in a Hindi interview with Harbhajan Singh for Star Sports. “When you get hit for a six on a good ball, it fires you up differently. After bowling him the celebration I did… then he abused me, you can see it [what he said] on TV too. At the start, I was just celebrating, I didn’t tell him anything. Then what he said in the PC… it’s a lie that he only said ‘well bowled’. You can’t see ‘well bowled’ anywhere [in the clip]. We respect every opponent, it’s not like we disrespect anyone. Cricket is a gentleman’s game. But what he did, I felt that was wrong, I didn’t like it…”
Meanwhile, Head also said that this wasn’t the first such incident during the series. Notably, India celebrated loudly after Travis Head’s dismissal in the second innings in Perth as well.
“There’s been conversations I’ve had (and) I’ll leave those conversations that I’ve had with the individuals around that,” Head said. “Like I said, I feel like the way I would like to play the game, and I guess the respect shown by myself and I hope my teammates. I feel like I’d hold a high expectation of my teammates as well and the way we conduct ourselves and the way we go about things. I can’t speak much for India, but like I said, I’m going to call that in certain situations. I’ve had conversations with guys this series about that. I feel like you can play hard and play fair, but obviously, when you’re out, can’t do much about it. I’m disappointed with the reaction I had after that, but certainly I stand up for myself.”
Despite the confrontations, Travis Head shared that the relationship between the teams remained cordial and that Australia have a lot of respect for the Indian players as well.
“I think the relationship is really, really good,” he said. “Think that’s why I’m disappointed with a couple of reactions I’ve got when being dismissed. Feel like the game’s moved on. The way I play the game is, I’m here to have a good time, want to enjoy myself, want to play hard and play fair. I have a joke with the fielders, always interacting, and it’s been on very simple terms and enjoyable. I know they are competing hard, but I can have a laugh at the same time.”
“Then to get the reaction I did off the back of that, I’d almost have it the other way, rather they try to tear shreds off me than give it to me. But feel like the lead-up is out of nowhere. Both teams respect each other, I hope. Our dressing room definitely has a lot of respect for the opposition, and the blokes in that dressing room are very high quality,” he again shared.
