Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes Head-Siraj scuffle to be an accident (File and AP)
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who himself had been embroiled in many cheated exchanges during his career, has termed the Travis Head and Mohammad Siraj exchanging words during second Pink Ball Test at Adelaide as ‘accidental’. While Indian pacer Mohammad Siraj was fined 20 percent of his match fees apart from one demerit point added to his disciplinary code after the heated exchange post the dismissal of Head during Australia’s first innings, the Australian batsman saw one demerit point added to his disciplinary code by the match referee.
“Looking back at it now, I think it was accidental the way that whole thing played out. I don’t think there was any malice meant at the start. Then the way it started and almost like the misinterpretation of what had actually gone on, I think led to how it ended,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
The incident had happened during the 82nd over of Australia’s first innings with Siraj castling Head, who was batting on 140, with a yorker. The Hyderabad bowler gave Head a send-off pointing to the dressing room after which Head too replied and later admitting to telling Siraj ‘Well bowled’, a thing which Siraj termed as a ‘lie’ while speaking with Star Sports. The duo were seen chatting post Australia’s ten-wicket win.
“I know Travis has gone and said that he said ‘well bowled’ at the start. Siraj obviously wasn’t happy about being hit over the deep backward square for six the ball before. Rohit (Sharma) I’m sure would expect these fast bowlers to react like that. When they’re under the pressure and they’re getting hit and then they’ve just got a wicket you’d expect that they’d be up and about,” said Ponting.
Head had smashed Siraj for a six prior to his dismissal and Ponting was in the commentary box during the incident. The former Australian captain shared how he was concerned about the bowler seeing the incident. “Look, it wasn’t that big a deal. I was in comms (commentary box) at the time. As soon as I saw the send-off, I actually got worried for Siraj. I know how the umpires react to those things. Umpires and referees don’t like seeing the send-off, pointed in the direction of the dressing room,” said Ponting.
The Australian also praised both the players on how they reconciled. “Both players have now had their say on what they thought happened. It was great to see them actually chatting. When Siraj came out to bat and Travis was at short leg, they were actually clarifying what had happened out there. They were talking amongst themselves as to what had actually happened,” said Ponting.
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