The first day's play at SCG was well and truly over after Australia negotiated 55 overs on rain-hit Sydney, but Mohammed Siraj's emotions continued to play out late in the night as Indians deem it fit to discuss his religion, tears and late father.
Mohammed Siraj, who was playing his second Test, got teary-eyed when the Indian National Anthem was played out at the SCG before the start of the AUS vs IND match
The first day's play at SCG was well and truly over after Australia negotiated 55 overs on rain-hit Sydney, but Mohammed Siraj's emotions continued to play out late in the night as Indians deem it fit to discuss his religion, tears and late father.
When India's National Anthem was being played out before the start of the third Test, Siraj got teary-eyed. He then carried on, claiming one of the two wickets that India managed to take, that of David Warner in the fourth over to give his team an early breakthrough.
With intermittent rain playing hide and seek, play at the iconic SCG got affected and there were multiple stoppages. All this while, Indian fans invoked Siraj's religion and reacted to comments made by former players and celebrities.
And one particular tweet, shared by former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, itself became a talking point.
In fact, it stirred up the proverbial hornets' nest, with hardliners jumping the gun to decide someone's patriotism or the lack of it.
Here are some reactions:
Later, it was revealed that Siraj got emotional thinking about his father, who died in November. The pacer had stayed back in Australia to fulfill his dream of seeing him play for India.
"Just remembered my father at that time. I was really emotional. He wanted me to see playing Test cricket," the 26-year-old said after day's play. "Wish he could see me playing for India."
This was Siraj's only second Test match. The right-arm pacer made his Test debut in the second match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.