(Image source from: x.com/ICC)
The ICC penalized Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj on Monday because he did not follow the rules during the third Test match against England at Lord's. He had to give up 15 percent of the money he made from the match because he reacted very strongly after dismissing England's opening batsman, Ben Duckett, on the game's fourth day. This occurred on Sunday during the sixth set of plays in England's second chance to bat, when Siraj got Duckett out for 12 runs right when the fourth day began in London. The English batsman tried to score by hitting a ball that was the right length, but he didn't hit it well and instead let Jasprit Bumrah catch it at mid-on. After taking the wicket, Siraj celebrated a lot near Duckett and even touched him while moving forward after bowling, as Duckett was returning to the Lord's Long Room.
Siraj was found to have broken rule 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which is about “using words, actions, or signs that can insult or upset a batter after they are out in an International Match.” Besides the fine, Siraj also got one bad mark, which will be added to his record. This was his second mistake in the last two years, bringing his total to two bad marks after what happened at Lord's. If a player gets four or more bad marks within two years, those marks turn into suspension points, which could cause the player to be banned. The fifth day at Lord's should be exciting after a wild last 30 minutes on the fourth day, when England quickly took three wickets, leaving India with four outs while trying to score 193 runs.
Earlier that day, Joe Root, who had scored a century in the first set of plays, made a good partnership of 67 runs with captain Ben Stokes. But, Washington Sundar got him out for 40 runs, and then also got the in-form Jamie Smith out for just eight runs, causing England to fall to 175-6 by the time of Tea. India eventually got England all out for 192 runs in the last part of the day, with Sundar getting great numbers of 4-22, his best performance away from home, ending with Shoaib Bashir's final wicket. But India had trouble at first when they were chasing those runs. Jofra Archer got Yashasvi Jaiswal out for no score for the second time in the match. KL Rahul and Karun Nair tried to make the innings steady, creating a small partnership before Nair's bad choice led to another wicket for England. Captain Shubman Gill came out to face a tough England team, and the mind games worked well as Brydon Carse got him out LBW.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, India brought in Akash Deep as the nightwatchman, but Stokes got him out just before the end of play, leaving India at 58 for four. The team from India requires 135 additional runs, with six wickets still available, to take a 2-1 advantage in the series.
