Siraj Receives Harsh Treatment From Gabba Crowd Over Head Send-Off Controversy

Indian cricket team fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was booed heavily by a part of the crowd at The Gabba, Brisbane on Day 1 of the third Test match against Australia on Saturday. As Siraj got ready to bowl the second over of the Australian innings, boos rang from different parts of the ground. The reaction was because of the controversy surrounding Siraj and his send-off to Travis Head during the second Test match in Adelaide. Siraj and Head were both punished for the controversy with the India fast bowler ever receiving a 20 per cent fine while Head was sanctioned and awarded one demerit point.

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field against Australia in the third Test.

Credit must go to Siraj half the crowd seems to be here just to boo him — mon (@4sacinom) December 14, 2024

India have made a couple of changes with Harshit Rana and R Ashwin making way for Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja respectively.

For Australia, Josh Hazlewood, who has recovered from his side injury, returns to the playing XI in place of Scott Boland.

Aussie crowd still going after Siraj,
C'mon miyan#INDvsAUS — Anupam Mishra (@gullycricketerr) December 14, 2024

"Little bit overcast and little bit of grass, looks a bit soft as well, want to make best use of the conditions. It will get better to bat as it goes on," Rohit said at the toss.

"Big game for us here, we'll do what is expected of us. We'll play good cricket, we understand we have to capture some moments, we didn't do that in the previous game which is why we lost," he added.

The five-match series is locked in at 1-1.

Teams:

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

(With PTI inputs)