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Travis Head’s simple celebration had stirred a big controversy in India, with some people feeling it was ‘obscene’.
Travis Head (left) and Pat Cummins (AP/Screengrab)
Travis Head has clarified that his celebration — putting his fingers between a circle of his other hand’s thumb and finger — after getting Rishabh Pant out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Monday had no malicious intent, as claimed by some former cricketers and fans in India. He said it was only meant to indicate him putting his finger ‘on the ice’.
Australia called up the left-handed batter to roll his arm in the post-Tea session when Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar had played out over two hours unbeaten. After a couple of quiet overs, one of his half-trackers broke Pant’s patience. He was lured into an ungainly pull shot which was caught in the deep, triggering a massive batting collapse.
From 121/3, India got all out for 155, losing the Test by 184 runs.
“Finger on the ice,” Head said during an interview with Triple M Radio. “I started it in Sri Lanka (when he took 4/10 in 17 balls in 2022). I put my finger on the ice and be ready to go for the next one. I didn’t expect to be bowling. I thought Galle would be my next bowling. I’ll go put it down in a little cup of ice, be ready to go up there next,” he joked, referring to Australia’s two Tests against Sri Lanka in Galle after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Earlier, soon after the Test, Australian skipper Pat Cummins had also clarified the same.
“His finger is so hot that he is going to put it in a cup of ice. Yes, that’s what it is,” Cummins said, laughing. “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.”
However, despite the clear explanations, some Indian former cricketers took offense to the gesture. Former India batter-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu said that Head had ‘insulted’ the entire population of India.
India might have to contend with him bowling further in the final Test in Syndey, which begins on January 3, as the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) usually offers more turn than other Australian grounds.
