Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes that Indian speedster Mohammed Siraj shouldn't have been fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his heated exchange during the third Test match against England, which also had some heated moments between the two teams. Hussain has termed the fine as harsh and has called out the ICC for not seeing the game as a game of emotions
The incident started when England's openers took up their time, a fired-up Shubman Gill-led Indian team had a confrontation with the England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett on the third day of the Test.
The next day, Indian pacer Siraj celebrated excessively after he dismissed Ben Duckett. The speedster was later fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct by the ICC.
“One of the highlights of the Test match, the way India went at Crawley. For a start, they are talking about time wasting. They (England openers) started 90 seconds later than they should have. They were very street-smart in the way they slowly walked down the stairs and pretending to get lost in the long room and got out in the middle and they were smart. And India rightly went at them, and that obviously fired everyone up,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
The incident happened in the sixth over of England's innings when angry Siraj dismissed Duckett as he was caught by Jasprit Bumrah at mid-on after a pull shot. Siraj followed Duckett during his walk back to form the crease and made light contact too with the English batsman, as Duckett walked towards the dressing room.
“Then, (Mohammad) Siraj was fired up. I think he’s a better cricketer when he’s fired up. You’d love to have Siraj on the side. I didn’t think he should’ve been fined. He went close to the line, he was right in (Ben)Duckett’s face, he didn’t barge at Duckett. If anything, Duckett went in that direction to get off the pitch. It wasn’t a shoulder barge as it has been with Kohli, you mentioned at the end of the game the other day but it wasn’t. I think it’s a game of emotions, and you don’t need 22 robots. I love that tension,” Hussain added.
After defeating India in the third Test match, England are currently leading 2-1 in the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025. The fourth Test match will take place from 23 to 27 July at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester.