‘That's Fast Bowler's Temperament’: Ravi Shastri Backs Mohammed Siraj Post His Verbal Banter With Travis Head

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has come in support of pacer Mohammed Siraj after he was involved in a verbal spat with Australian left-hand batter Travis Head during the second Test in Adelaide. Siraj was part of the Indian team that won the Test series against Australia on their soil where Shastri was the head coach of the team.

While taking part in the second Test, Travis Head smashed 140 runs and dominated Siraj. But then the Indian pacer had the last laugh as he dismissed Head followed by the verbal banter between the two.

"I wouldn't have expected anything else from a fast bowler after he'd been hit for a six. Siraj was letting off some steam. That's the fast bowler's temperament. You want it to be like that. When I was playing, my philosophy was to give it back as good as you get. And it's exactly what I would tell my players when I was coaching India in Australia. Do not hold back one bit," wrote Shastri in his column for CODE Sports.

"Do not take even one backward step. It then became the team's philosophy and everyone from Virat Kohli to Rishabh Pant and every member of the squad was prepared to give it back to the Aussies," Shastri added.

Rohit Sharma-led team India will face off Australia in the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Brisbane, Gabba on Saturday, December 14.

Australia Squad: Pat Cummins (C), Alex Carey (WK), Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Scott Boland.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah(vc), Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Abhimanyu Easwaran.