CricketSiraj’s odd explanation on his heated duel with Smith during the WTC final
On the second day of the World Test Championship final, Steve Smith and Travis Head came into a dominant position, and the Indian bowlers had a very good chance to take wickets in the first hour of the day as the bowl was new, but they failed to do so. Two disappointing deliveries from Mohammad Siraj also saw Steve Smith reach his 31st Test century and third at the Oval. Later in the match, the pacer also got involved in a heated duel with the batsman, which did not impress the spectators. Later, Siraj gave his clarification on this act with an odd explanation.
Siraj angrily threw the ball
The heated duel was seen on the second day of the WTC final, when Smith converted Siraj’s back-to-back deliveries into boundaries and became the second batsman from the Australian line-up after Travis Head to reach a hundred.
On the next ball, Smith pulled out at the last minute citing some problems with the spider cam, while Siraj had already done his run-up. Smith had already hit consecutive fours on the previous balls of the fast bowler, due to which Siraj got frustrated and wrathfully threw the ball towards him. The batsman kept explaining that he had an issue with the camera, but Siraj was not overwhelmed by it.
Siraj gave a odd explanation
After the end of the second day, when the 29-year-old pacer was asked about the reason behind his aggressive act, he said “ I was just enjoying it , if you enjoy your mind will be relaxed and If you take too much pressure then it will affect the bowling. When he was asked if this was a part of his plan to upset Smith, he said “ It was nothing and there were no plans to frustrate him, I was just enjoying the bowling but also disappointed.
Siraj about Indian bowlers strategy
Siraj also shared his thoughts on the short-ball scheme against Head, which got him the big wicket on the second day. He said that “this was the strategy of Indian fast bowlers against the Australian batsmen, and the team carried it. We came up with a plan to attack Head with bouncers and told ourselves, “Even if he hits the bouncers, no problem, but we will stick to the plan, and eventually we got success “.
Although the Indian bowlers got early wickets on the second day, Australia reached a massive total of 469 runs, with Travis Head and Steve Smith being the best performers for the team with 163 and 121 runs, respectively.
