'Siraj a good character, gets crowd up like Kohli'

PTI Adelaide: Mohammed Siraj's hot temper has become a topic of discussion but Australian quick Josh Hazlewood says the Indian pacer is a "good character" who fires up the crowd and is passionate about the game like Indian superstar Virat Kohli. Siraj was involved in two incidents where his temper flared during the pink-ball Test that India lost by 10 wickets.

In Australia's first innings, Siraj threw the ball wide off the stumps near Marnus Labuschagne after the Australian batter pulled away from his stance, forcing the bowler to halt his run-up. This occurred when a man holding a tower of beer cups walked into Labuschagne's line of sight. The next day, Siraj was involved in a verbal altercation with Travis Head soon after cleaning him up, drawing the ire of the Adelaide crowd which booed him. "He's just a good character and it's good to see sometimes," said Hazlewood, who shared the dressing room with both Siraj and Kohli during his time at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. "I really enjoyed my time at RCB with Siraj. He's probably the leader of the attack there, to a degree. He's another one who's a bit like Virat, very passionate, goes with the flow of the game, gets the crowd up.

He has bowled serious spells in the IPL in the last few years," he added. Hazlewood, who missed the second Test due to a side strain, had dismissed Kohli for 5 in the first innings in the opening Test at Perth. It was the fourth time the Australian quick dismissed Kohli in red-ball cricket. "It just comes down to who executes well on the day, whether he leaves you well until the ball gets soft or someone else comes on the balls and doesn't ball quite well enough," he said.

"There's a lot of match-ups like that throughout international cricket. You know, we've played each other so much. If you've been around for 10 years, you pretty much know each other inside out."

ICC fines Siraj, Head not spared either

Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj was fined 20 per cent of his match fee, while Australian batter Travis Head was also "sanctioned" by the ICC for indulging in a heated exchange of words during the just-concluded day-night Test here.

Siraj and Head were held guilty of breaching the world body's code of conduct following a disciplinary hearing on Monday. "Siraj has been penalised 20 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel," the ICC said in a statement. The cited rule relates to "using language, actions or gestures.