Mohammad Siraj was under the scanner during the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Adelaide Oval after being engaged in a heated argument with Travis Head, having dismissed him for 140 runs in 141 deliveries. The Indian pacer also was fined 20 percent of his match fees besides earning a demerit point for his send-off.
Mohammad Siraj was a bit too aggressive in the pink-ball Test that the home side went on to win by 10-wicket. He gestured angrily to the Adelaide-born with his hands towards the shed. However, by the end of the encounter, they seemed to have frozen the entire moment as Head felt it shouldn’t be an issue for the rest of the summer.
The first instance of the Hyderabad pacer losing his cool wasn’t that. On the opening day in the evening session, the fast bowler found Marnus Labuschagne pulling out at the last moment, forcing him to stop in the middle of the delivery stride.
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Although, Mohammad Siraj threw the ball back in anger before the Queensland batter explained the reason. Just when he was about to look at the bowler, a man walked behind the sight screen with a ‘beer snake’, which forced Marnus to withdraw from the delivery.
The man responsible for riling up Mohammad Siraj was fined INR 2.33 lakh
The bowler wasn’t happy with the incident as he should be given how those matters could lead to the fast bowlers pulling awkwardly and getting an unwanted injury.
Lachie Burtt, aged 21, was responsible for the distraction, as he had to put a lot of effort into making the snake, having collected 250 empty cups and spending a whopping 2750 Australian dollars, which is nearly INR 2.33 lakh.
Burtt was in attendance with seven friends, who put in hours of effort to get the snake moving. The available beer cost them 11 dollars each, making the prank an expensive affair. Even the beer snake, which grew all the issues for Mohammad Siraj, is a very common thing in Test matches in England and Australia.
“The funny thing was everyone could buy four drinks (at one time), so we were all sitting there with four drinks each, and there were 67 of us. So a fair bit was going on plus, everyone around us on the hill, they were loving it.” The NewsCorp quoted an engineer present at the venue as saying.
The 21-year-old was quick to apologize for his action, especially to Marnus Labuschagne, who was hunted by the thunderbolt of Mohammad Siraj.
“I didn’t have time to stop and think about what I was doing right now and what the effects were going to be because of it. I did feel a bit silly; it wasn’t the right thing. Sorry, Marnus.” He told 9News.
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“It’s probably not the right thing to do, but no one got hurt. I didn’t jump the fence or anything. It was one ball, and Marnus (Labuschagne) got a four after that, so no worries. In my head, at that time, I just wanted to get away from the guard, so I saw the space and hopped over the tiny white rope.” Burtt shed light.
Mohammad Siraj enjoyed a decent time, in the Adelaide Test, with four wickets in the first innings. He will look to get back in full sharpness during the third fixture at the Gabba, where he picked up a five-wicket haul during his debut series in 2020-21.