The Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has been fined 20 percent of his match fee for aggressive celebrations after dismissing Australian batsman Travis Head. This incident took place during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Adelaide Oval. On the fourth ball of the 82nd over on the second day of the pink-ball Test, Siraj dismissed Head with a brilliant in-swinging yorker and the fast bowler violated the spirit of the game by aggressively gesturing Head back to the dressing room. The two argued for a while, but when Siraj came to bat during India's second innings, the two resolved the misunderstanding that took place the day before.
Despite this, whenever Siraj was fielding or bowling in the deep, the Adelaide crowd constantly hooted to express their displeasure of Siraj's gesture to Head, who was the Player of the Match for his brilliant 140 runs. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday stated that Siraj was sanctioned after being found guilty of breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to using language, action or gesture that insults a batsman or which can lead to an aggressive reaction to a batsman's dismissal.
Head was also penalised for breaching Article 2.13 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "misconduct with a player, player support personnel, umpire or match referee during an international match".
Both Siraj and Head received one demerit point each in the disciplinary record, their first offence in 24 months. The duo pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Ranjan Madugalle and the sanctions for which no formal hearing was required. With the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series tied at 1-1, India and Australia will now play the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane from December 14.