India pacer Mohammed Siraj was seen visibly frustrated at Australia’s Steve Smith on day two of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final at the Oval in London on June 8, 2023. Australia resumed play at 327/3 with Head on 146* and Smith on 95*.
Rohit Sharma had won the toss and chose to bowl first on day one. India had opted to bring in Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur in the XI while R Ashwin warmed the bench.
India did well initially as they reduced Australia to 76/3 with David Warner making 43 and Marnus Labuschagne making 26 runs, while Usman Khawaja made a duck.
But then Travis Head took the attack to the opposition with an entertaining 146* and added 251* runs with the fourth wicket with Steve Smith, who made 95* when the play ended on day one with Australia on 327/3.
Steve Smith Pulls Out After Distraction And Mohammed Siraj Throws The Ball At The Stumps In Frustration
On day two, Travis Head continued his brilliant run of form and completed his 150 runs in no time.
At the start of Day 2, Smith was batting on 95 and the veteran batter was able to reach his 31st Test century with the help of two back-to-back boundaries off Siraj. This was also his 9th Test ton against India.
On the fourth ball of the over, Smith moved away from his stumps before the ball was delivered due to some issue with the spider cam but it did not go down well with Siraj. The fast bowler finished his run-up and just threw the ball in the stumps’ direction.
Smith reacted shocked at Siraj’s gesture, while the bowler has some words to say to him.
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Siraj managed to channel his frustration in a constructive way as he dismissed Travis Head for 163 runs in 174 balls, as he was caught by KS Bharat.