Team India might have suffered a 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the Adelaide Test but Mohammed Siraj‘s personal duels with Travis Head in the match enthralled everyone. Siraj did court criticism for his send-off to Head after dismissing him on Day 2 of the Adelaide Test but the pacer justified his actions ahead of the start of play on Day 3. When Rohit Sharma addressed media after the conclusion of the match, questions with regards to the incident were bound to crop up in the press conference.
Rohit, having worked with Siraj for years, backed the pacer to keep working with the same attitude, suggesting getting into such battles has given him success and he should continue to do so.
“Yeah, he likes to get into the battle. It gives him success. As the captain, it’s my job to back that aggression. Obviously, there’s a fine line-we don’t want to cross anything that disrespects the game. But having a word or two with the opposition is not a bad thing. He likes it, and it gets him going. In the past, we’ve seen many cricketers thrive in such battles, and Siraj is definitely one of them,” Rohit said in the press conference.
Rohit feels personal duels in the game are bound to happen when two teams of such magnitude face off against each other. But, lines shouldn’t be crossed.
“That said, there’s a thin line between being aggressive and crossing the limit. As captain, it’s my responsibility to ensure we don’t cross that line. A word or two here and there doesn’t make a huge difference,” he added.
“Our players are used to performing in big crowds. When things go well, they support; when things don’t, they don’t, that happens everywhere. Siraj knows what he needs to do for the team. His job is to take wickets, and he will do everything required to achieve that. External factors don’t matter to him. The team is mature enough to keep such distractions out and focus on the game,” Rohit further added.
Head claimed to have said “well bowled” to Siraj after the India pacer clean bowled him on Day 2 of the second Test. But, Siraj countered his claims, saying no such comment was made by the Australia batter. Instead, Siraj claimed that Head abused him during the altercation on the field.
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