Travis Head fires back with X-rated sledge after ‘villain’ delivers send-off
Travis Head has had the final word after he was dismissed in fiery scenes as Indian quick Mohammed Siraj became a fully fledged “villain”.
Travis Head has taken a parting shot at second Test “villain” Mohammad Siraj after Australia had a monster day on day two of the match at Adelaide Oval.
Resuming the innings at 1/86, Australia were four down when passing the Indian total of 180, thanks mainly to Marnus Labuschagne’s much-needed 64.
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But with the lead in hand, hometown hero Travis Head motored the Aussies over 300, belting a stunning 141-ball 140.
The brilliant innings continues the South Australian’s love affair with his home ground, belting his third Test century in nine innings at the ground.
The frustration was clear from the Indians as Head batted Australia to a healthy lead, even when Head was the seventh wicket to fall.
After Head smoked Siraj for a six over square leg the ball before, a yorker knocked over the Aussie’s castle, with the Indian quick giving Head a send off.
Head didn’t take a backwards step with Siraj having some choice words and hand signals to send the South Australian on his way.
Head also threw a few words of his own back at Siraj and the crowd erupted when it saw the send-off on the big screen.
“That was quite verbal towards the back end there,” David Warner said on Fox Cricket. “But you could see the emotion from Travis Head, how much it meant to him.
“We can see the aggression from both players here.”
Siraj was heavily booed by the Adelaide crowd with Kerry O’Keeffe even labelling him “the villain”.
After stumps, Head took parting shot at Siraj.
“I said ‘well bowled’ but he thought otherwise and pointed me to the sheds,” Head said.
“He got a little bite back from me.
“Slightly disappointed with the way that transpired with a couple of the past innings but it is what it is. If that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it.”
Cricket reporter Bharat Sundaresan confirmed on X that some of Head’s words to Siraj included the Aussie No. 5 saying: “F*** you c***t”.
Sundaresan said “Travis did take responsibility” for the comment “during his press conference & said he was disappointed with himself”.
“I don’t want to give it too much air time but I feel like the way I play the game, I would have liked a better reaction,” Head said.
“I was surprised at the reaction in terms of situation of the game and the lead up. There was no confrontation leading up to him and I felt like it was probably, yeah, a little bit far at the time, and that’s why I’m disappointed in the reaction that I gave back.
“But I’m also going to stand up for myself. I’d like to think in our team that we wouldn’t do that. It’s not how I’d like to play the game, and I feel like my teammates are the same. And if I had seen that in that circumstances, I’d probably call it out, which I did.”
Leading rugby league reporter Dean Ritchie shot from the hip when commenting on the incident on Twitter.
“Siraj, you’re a disgrace to yourself, Test cricket and your country,” he wrote.
Sports host Adam Peacock posted: “Sending a batter off who got 140. Arse-hattery in its purist form.”
Head’s starring performance pushed Australia to a lead of 157 on the first innings with India having to navigate the tricky night session.
But Australia have taken a huge upper hand heading into day three, running through the Indian top order to leave the visitors 5/128.
An aggressive Rishabh Pant is 28 not out off 25, with Nitish Kumar Reddy also 15 off 14 at stumps and only the bowlers to come.
It’s the third crucial century Head has scored against India in the last 18 months, following his matchwinning knocks in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup final.
All three of these innings, with the red, white and pink ball, have come against Indian team captained by Rohit Sharma.
Check out how the full day of thrilling cricket unfolded below.
Originally published as Travis Head fires back with X-rated sledge after ‘villain’ delivers send-off
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