“Have You Gone Mad?”: Ex-India Star Blasts Mohammed Siraj Over Travis Head Send-Off

sports.ndtv.com/cricket/players/107503-mohammed-siraj-playerprofile” title=”Mohammed Siraj”>Mohammed Siraj‘s fiery send-off to sports.ndtv.com/cricket/players/62477-travis-michael-head-playerprofile” title=”Travis Head”>Travis Head has become the topic of discussion. Of late, former India batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth has lashed out at the India pacer for his actions. Notably, Siraj had given a fiery send-off to Head after dismissing the batter for his individual score of 140 on Day 2 of the recently-concluded Adelaide Test. In return, Head also got involved in a war of words with the pacer. Head’s knock defined the match as Australia eventually won the contest by 10 wickets. Siraj’s action has been heavily criticised by former cricketers, including many from India.

Earlier, sports.ndtv.com/cricket/players/40594-sunil-manohar-gavaskar-playerprofile” title=”Sunil Gavaskar”>Sunil Gavaskar had lashed out at the pacer for his act. Now, Srikkanth has blasted Siraj for treating Head in such a manner.

“He has smashed the bowling mercilessly. Hey Siraj, don’t you have brains? What are you doing? Have you gone mad? He smashed you left, right and centre. He hit boundaries and sixes effortlessly in his knock of 140. You’re giving him a send-off after that. Is this called Sledging? What rubbish is this? It’s just madness,” said Srikkanth on his YouTube show as quoted by sports/story/cricket-aus-vs-ind-mohammed-siraj-kris-srikkanth-travis-head-send-off-pink-ball-test-adelaide-2647052-2024-12-09″ rel=”noindex,nofollow” target=”_blank”>India Today.

“One batter has scored 140. Give him credit, and applaud his knock. Instead of saying ‘brilliant knock’, you’re giving him a send-off? As if, you got him out on 10 or 0, as if you planned it and got his wicket! He smashed you all over. The Indian bowlers had no answers to Head’s onslaught. 140 off 141 balls. Look at that. He hit sixes at will. He didn’t treat Ashwin as a spinner, he is dancing down the track and smashing him,” Srikkanth added.

Siraj was fined 20 per cent of his match fee, while Australian batter Travis Head was also “sanctioned” by the ICC for indulging in a heated exchange of words during the just-concluded day-night Test in Adelaide.

Siraj and Head were held guilty of breaching the world body’s code of conduct following a disciplinary hearing on Monday.

(With PTI Inputs)