1 week Ago
IND vs AUS 3rd Test: India's star fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was once again at the receiving end as he was booed by the Australian fans at the Gabba in Brisbane ever since he started bowling his over during the third Test of the ongoing series. It was the third consecutive time that Rohit Sharma won the toss but opted to field first. Jasprit Bumrah began India's bowling attack and bowled a brilliant first over to Usman Khawaja.
Siraj then bowled the second over with the new ball but after he took up his run-up, he started getting booed by the fans and it continued the entire over. The first time that the star fast bowler was booed was in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, where Siraj was seen giving a fiery send-off to Australia's star batter Travis Head after he dismissed for scoring a match-winning knock of 140 runs. The speedster reacted in that manner because because of the number of fours, Travis had smashed him at the beginning of the over with the second new ball.
Both of them revealed their versions of the controversy. Head reckoned that he had told him "well bowled", which Siraj said was a lie. The ICC fined both Siraj and Head with a hefty amount.
Siraj was fined 20% of his match fees but Head was handed just a demerit point. India makes two changes The Indian team management brought in two changes to their playing XI after losing the second Test in Adelaide by 10 wickets, where Ravindra Jadeja came in place of fellow veteran spinner R Ashwin and Akash Deep replaced out-of-form fast bowler Harshit Rana. On the other hand, the hosts made just one change as they bought Josh Hazlewood back and dropped Scott Boland from their playing XI.
Rohit, who has been struggling with his batting, is under immense pressure due to the tactical blunders he made with his captaincy and will come into bat at the No.6 position as KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will continue to open. Since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is currently leveled at 1-1, the surface at the Gabba has a green tinge on it under overcast conditions and can give the Australian batters a hard time.
"There's a lot of grass and it looks a little soft as well so we want to try and make the best use of the conditions and try and see what we can do with the ball up front," Rohit Sharma said at the time of the toss. "The guys are looking forward to the test match. It's been always nice to come here and play some really good cricket and yeah, when you talk about how everyone's feeling, they want to come out here and showcase themselves", he added.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins also reacted to what he would have done if he had won the toss. "It's been a fantastic series so far. I think we're going to sell out at the Gabba today so I'm sure it will be pretty lively out there", he said.
Australia (Playing XI): 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 (Playing XI): 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.
