Australia defeated India by 185 runs in Melbourne on Monday to take a 2-1 lead in the series. While the result of the match has been the talk of the town, a controversy had also erupted due to the way Travis Head celebrated Rishabh Pant’s wicket on the last day of the game. While not many people were able to decipher the meaning to Head’s celebration, former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu has now gone on to call it ‘obnoxious’ on X and demanded a ‘stringent’ punishment from ICC.
In a post on X, Siddhu wrote, “Travis head’s obnoxious behaviour during the course of the Melbourne test doesn’t auger well for the gentleman’s game…… sets the worst possible example when there are kids, women, young & old watching the game……. this caustic conduct did not insult an individual but a nation of 1.5 billion Indians……stringent punishment that would serve a deterrent for the future generations needs to be slapped on him so that no one dares follow suit !!!”
What is the controversy about?
The incident happened during the 59th over of the match when Head was able to tempt Pant into playing the big shot which was caught by Mitchell Marsh near the boundary line. There were great celebrations from all Australian players given that it was the first breakthrough in more than 20 overs but the celebration of Head soon caught everyone’s attention. Head seemed to be making some sort of sign with his hand which not many could decipher.
Australia captain Pat Cummins tried to explain the celebration in his post-match press conference on Monday, saying, “I can explain that. His finger is so hot, that he is going to put it in a cup of ice. Yes, that’s what it is. That’s normally the running joke. Was it at the Gabba or somewhere, where he got a wicket as well and just got straight to the fridge, grabs a bucket of ice, puts his finger in and just walks in front of Lyno (Nathan Lyon). Just like that, I think it’s very funny. So that’s what it would have been, nothing else,”
