Nasser Hussain Slams ICC Over Siraj Punishment: ‘You Don’t Need 22 Robots on Field’

Nasser Hussain Slams ICC Over Siraj Punishment: Former England cricketer Nasser Hussain has said that one of the highlights of the Lord’s Test against India was the way the visitors went at Zak Crawley after he deliberately delayed play at the end of Day 3. The Indian players didn’t like it.

The Indian camp was upset with England’s time wasting at the end of the third day.

Despite the foul language being picked up on the stump mic and Gill even making an obscene gesture, it was Mohammed Siraj who got fined by the ICC after the Test. Siraj’s celebrations after dismissing Ben Duckett in the second innings were deemed “provocative” and the ICC said they could have incited an “aggressive reaction from a batter”.

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As Siraj dismissed Duckett, both players had a minor shoulder clash which upset the English fans. But former England captain Nasser Hussain doesn’t think the celebration warranted an ICC punishment; he also doesn’t think the shoulder barge was intentional.

"One of the highlights of the Test match, the way India went at Crawley. 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, pretending to get lost in the long room. India rightly went at them, and that obviously fired everyone up.

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“Then, Siraj got really fired up, and I think he’s a better cricketer when he’s like that. You’d want Siraj in your team. I didn’t think he should’ve been fined. He got close to the line, stood right in Duckett’s face, but didn’t barge into him. If anything, Duckett moved towards him to get off the pitch. It wasn’t a shoulder barge. It’s a game of emotions, and we don’t need 22 robots out there,” Hussain told Sky Sports Cricket.

The Lord’s Test saw some intense on-field battles and verbal duels with players from both teams—Shubman Gill, Zak Crawley, Duckett and Siraj—trading blows throughout.

According to ICC rules, Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum of 50% of the match fee and one or two demerit points. Siraj’s case was minor but symbolic of the rivalry in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.

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