WTC 2023 Final: Mohammed Siraj explains his action of ‘throwing ball at stumps’ after Steve Smith stops him in delivery stride

The opening day of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final saw Australia completely dominating the proceedings at the Oval in London. Travis Head and Steve Smith joined hands and put up a scintillating 251-run stand to keep Indian bowlers at bay. The duo began the second day in the same fashion and the Indian bowlers naturally were frustrated as they had spent the entire previous day on the field without much success.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj opened the bowling for India on the second day. However, the right-arm pacer ended up delivering two average balls which Smith capitalized, smashing two consecutive boundaries to reach his 31st Test century and 9th against India.

Immediately following that delivery, Siraj displayed frustration when Smith pulled out at the last moment due to some complications with the Spider-cam. Siraj was displeased with Smith’s decision to withdraw and expressed his anger by throwing the ball back at the stumps. Smith attempted to explain the reason for his action, pointing towards the Spider-cam, but Siraj remained unimpressed.

Following the end of second day’s play, Siraj was asked to explain exactly what happened and why he threw the ball at the stumps. The Indian pacer clarified that there was nothing as he was rather enjoying the moment. Siraj reckoned there were no deliberate plans against Smith but admitted he was feeling frustrated at the time.

“It’s nothing. It was just some enjoyment. If you enjoy – your mind will be relaxed. If you take too much pressure, it will affect your bowling. So, it’s nothing,” said Siraj as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“It was nothing. No plans of frustrating him. I was just enjoying my bowling. I was frustrated at that time,” added Siraj.

Smith went on to score 121 while Head smashed a record 163 in their 285-run stand as Australia posted a total of 469 in the first innings. In response, India lost half of their side for 151 and are trailing Australia by 318 runs.

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June 09, 2023 at 11:15AM