India’s Mohammed Siraj
Credit: PTI FIle Photo
Adelaide: On a day when Mohammed Siraj called out Travis Head for his claim that he just said "well bowled" to the pacer, captains of both Australia and India played down the incident in their separate post-match media engagements.
Head, while saying he was disappointed with his own reaction following Siraj's send-off to him, had suggested that the Indian pacer had taken things "far".
Speaking to Star Sports on Sunday morning here, Siraj put out his side of the story.
"I was enjoying bowling to him, and it was a good battle," he began. "He batted really well. (But) At the end of the day, as a bowler when he hits you for six off your good balls, something stirs up inside you (smiles).. There is passion. I was just celebrating (after bowling him) but his abusive reaction can be seen on television. If you see, at the start I didn’t say a word - I was only celebrating initially. Later, at the press conference, he was wrong. He claimed he said “well bowled” to me, but that’s a lie. There was no "well bowled" that I could see. And he talked about respect. I mean, we respect everyone, we don’t disrespect others. I have always respected people as cricket is a gentleman’s game," Siraj said while speaking to former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Rohit, as expectedly, didn't read too much into the development, saying, "It was interesting".
"I was standing at the slips, I don't know what was exchanged, but (when) two competitive teams are going at each other, these things happen," he offered. "Travis was batting well. Obviously, our plan was to get him out and on the other side, Travis wanted to try and put our bowlers under pressure. And we got the wicket, he celebrated it. There were obviously a few words exchanged between the two of them. I exactly don't know what was said because my job is not just to look at that one incident, I'm focused on the overall picture or the overall Test match. But again, I don't think we can look too much into that. When India and Australia always play, these things happen. And these are now just part of the game."
Cummins, too, didn't want to delve too much into the issue. "I was out there, it's heated, it's a big series, it's been packed with crowds all the days, so there's a lot riding on it. I think the umpire stepped in pretty quickly and that was the end of it."
Rohit, however, maintained that there was a thin line between aggression and over-aggression that needed to be trodden carefully.
"Obviously there is a fine line that we don't want to cross," he said. "Anything can cause dispute in a game but obviously having a word or two with the opposition is not a bad thing and he (Siraj) likes it and that's what gets him going. But again, like I said, there is a thin line between getting aggressive and getting too aggressive and crossing that line. Obviously, as a captain, it is also my responsibility to make sure that we don't cross the line. But yeah, a word or two here and there, I don't think makes a huge difference."
Siraj and Head appeared to have made up as the two were seen talking cordially when Siraj came out to bat and embraced each other after the match.
Have we heard the last one on this? Only time will tell.