The former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, has criticized the pace bowler of the national side, Mohammad Siraj, for his careless running during the 62nd over of the first innings in the third Test of the five-match series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Mohammad Siraj was promoted to the number ten position in the batting department, where he joined Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. The latter was in fabulous touch in the middle, having already celebrated his half-century in the game. But, for the national side, the aim was to get 246 runs to avoid the follow-on from the Australian side, who finished with 445 in their first innings.
Many fans were surprised at the promotion of the Hyderabad-born, who walked out at number nine ahead of Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep following the dismissal of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who, by then, had put up a fifty-run stand with Jadeja in the race to avoid the follow-on.
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On the second ball of the 62nd over, Mohammad Siraj got a life in a run-out dismissal. The left-handed all-rounder, Jadeja, tucked the ball into the leg side and called for two. The fast bowler slipped at the striker’s end before diving forward to complete the double. The bat was in the air for a short period as the third umpire, Chris Gaffney, with no conclusive evidence, gave the decision in favor of the batter.
“You cannot think of taking risky singles”- Mohammad Siraj gets a stern warning from the former captain
On the fourth ball of the same over, Jadeja smashed the Pat Cummins delivery through extra cover for three runs, expecting his partner to survive the last two balls of the over. But Siraj was going through a different plan. He backed away to defend the fifth ball and wandered around for a run randomly.
There was no run but Mohammad Siraj was convinced to play something out of it, as they eventually got the run while the throw went wide.
The former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, was left in disbelief by the action of the Indian fast bowler and lashed out at his cricketing awareness while being on air as he described the entire incident with some harsh words.
“Even now, in the middle of the crease, they are having a conversation. Mohammad Siraj is having a conversation. What’s going on over here? One ball is left in the over. All you’ve got to do is stick around. There is no run. It looks to be in a very casual manner.” The former Indian opening batter addressed on Star Sports.
“Look at that. There’s got to be some cricketing awareness. You are a no.9 batter. You have to think about the team. You cannot think of taking risky singles.” Sunil Gavaskar slammed.
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The incident proved costly for India. Jadeja failed to get a single on the last ball of the over. That put Mohammad Siraj back on strike against Mitchell Starc, who, on the last delivery of the 63rd over, went on a booming drive to get an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper, Alex Carey.
The 30-year-old already had gone through a poor incident with Travis Head during the second day-night affair at the Adelaide Oval, where he was fined 10% of his match fee. India managed to avoid the follow-on with an unbeaten 39-run stand between Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep.
The onus will be now on Mohammad Siraj and the other pacers to do some early damage in the Australian batting lineup.