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On Day 4 of the third Test at the iconic Lord's, Mohammed Siraj gave Ben Duckett a fiery send-off and barged shoulders with him. Siraj was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for the altercation. However, former England captain Michael Atherton felt that it was done out of passion and seeked to distinguish passionate expression from nastiness and compared the situation by citing the example of Virat Kohli's similar shoulder-barge incident to Sam Konstas in Australia.
Atherton questioned whether fans would like to see players worry too much rather than players worrying enough about Test cricket.
“… wouldn’t spectators rather see players caring too much, rather than too little about playing Test cricket; caring too much, rather than too little, about playing for their country?” Atherton wrote in his column for The Times.
Atherton termed Kohli's behaviour 'unacceptable' in Australia and defended Siraj by saying this was a purely passionate incident.
“There should be no place, for example, for the shoulder barge that Virat Kohli initiated in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last Christmas, when he diverted from his path to deliberately walk into Sam Konstas. No one, of course, wants to see physical altercations on the field of play, or sustained nasty verbal abuse.
“But here there was none of that here, except two teams full of passionate intensity, commitment and skill. What a Test match they gave us,” Atherton opined.
Atherton on Jadeja-Carse incident
Atherton compared both incidents in the light of difference between passion and sheer aggression by talking about another incident from Lord's Test between Ravindra Jadeja and Brydon Carse when they collided mid-pitch.
“In a match where there was plenty of spice and niggle, tempers flared as Carse and Jadeja collided mid-pitch, although the impact was entirely accidental, after Jadeja had deflected the ball towards third man, with both players ball watching rather than minding each other’s path. In this game, though, it has not taken much kindling to spark the flames and Stokes, if you please, moved in as peace-maker, standing between both players, as they exchanged pleasantries,” Atherton said.
Atherton lauds India's Lord's display
The 57-year-old praised India for their performance and said that a 22-run margin implies that it was a tough match. He recalled England's maiden ODI World Cup victory exactly six years ago at the venue.
“Six years ago to the day Lord’s had witnessed the most remarkable finish to any cricket match, when the World Cup final was decided on a boundary countback after a Super Over. Now the game delivered an extraordinary finish again, with two of the protagonists from that day, Stokes and Jofra Archer, taking centre stage. In the context of Test cricket, it doesn’t often get as tight as a 22-run winning margin,” the former England captain concluded as the hosts took a 2-1 lead in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
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