Siraj Gets Into Heated War Of Words With Duckett After England's Bizarre Act
India pacer Mohammed Siraj clashed with England opener Ben Duckett on the stroke of Lunch on Day 5 of the ongoing 1st Test at Headingley, Leeds. With Siraj steaming towards the crease, Zak Crawley pulled out of the delivery citing movement behind the sightscreen. Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle pointed out that there was no movement behind the screen, suggesting that Crawley was wasting time so that India can't bowl another over before Lunch. The England openers got exactly what they wanted as the umpire tossed the bails, signalling for Lunch.
Miffed by the entire episode, Siraj was seen having a go at Duckett, who was having a laugh about it, alongside Crawley, while walking back to the dressing room. India batter KL Rahul was also seen having a chat wth Duckett and Crawley.
Chasing a tough 371 for victory, England were served by Duckett (64) and Zak Crawley (42) at the break with the hosts still 254 runs adrift of the target.
Besides Bumrah, the other Indian pacers - Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur - were erratic and gave enough freebies for England batters, who were more than happy to oblige.
The best moment for the Indian bowling unit, of course, was produced by Bumrah when he beat the defence of Duckett with a lovely off-cutter.
Unfortunately, the second line pacers did not come anywhere close to create their own moment of magic, and remained ordinary.
Duckett and Crawley, who have together amassed over 2000 runs as Test openers, pounced on anything short or full to essay cuts, pulls and drives as England innings gained considerable steam, milking 96 runs in the first session after resuming from an overnight 21 for no loss.
Crawley and Duckett's stand is the highest opening partnership in the 4th innings of a Test at Headingley, beating a record that's stood since 1949, when Verdun Scott and Bert Sutcliffe put on 112 for New Zealand.
(With PTI Inputs)
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