Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head had a verbal altercation after batter was dismissed.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to penalize India bowler Mohammed Siraj. However, the reason is not his fight with Travis Head on Day 2 of the just-finished Adelaide Test, which Australia won by 10 wickets.
Siraj finds himself at the center of a major controversy following his altercation with Travis Head.
However, Michael Clarke was offended by Siraj's celebratory gestures during the Adelaide Test. The 2015 World Cup-winning skipper remarked that the Indian pacer continues to disrespect umpires by failing to turn around and challenge LBW rulings.
This happened when Siraj was sure that Marnus Labuschagne was out LBW and hence he did not even bother to look back and appeal. He ran down the wicket with his arms in the air. But the on-field umpire gave it not out and replays showed that there was an inside edge onto the pads.
"Siraj should be fined for keeping on appealing for lbw and not asking the umpire. He hits the batter on the pads and just runs down like they’re out,” Clarke said on Sky Sports radio.
Clarke also expressed surprise that the ICC did not fine Siraj. The former Australia captain says he is more concerned with Siraj's celebrations than his on-field confrontation with Head.
"I’m surprised the ICC haven’t fined him because I remember when I was playing, you get fined every time. Brett Lee was the worst at it and they told him, ‘You don’t turn around and ask the umpire, you’re going to be fined’. I’m more worried about that from Siraj than him and Travis Head," said Clarke.
Former Australia pacer Stuart Clark agrees with Michael Clarke, stating Siraj should cease making celebratory appeals and show respect to the on-field officials.
“That, I think, is far worse than what happened in the [Head] incident. And that came up and got discussed numerous times, that you can’t do that.
"The umpires are quite clear, and so are the rules, that you have to turn around and show respect to be asking the umpire whether it’s out. It didn’t look great, he ran down the wicket, carried on, ‘that’s out’ … then when they showed the replay, he’d inside-edged it onto his pad. If I was a match referee or an official, I’d be sort of saying, ‘Mate, that’s got to stop, because that doesn’t look great and that puts so much pressure on the umpire, in an inappropriate way’," Clark said.
Mohammed Siraj will be under scrutiny when India plays Australia in the third Test in Brisbane on December 14.