You couldn't not want him to take wickets: Clarke on Siraj

Michael Clarke could've been a ruthless captain, as was seen during Australia's home Ashes in 2013-14, charging at his opponents on the field. But Michael Clarke, as a human being, is expressive, emotional and has a heart of gold.

For fans across the globe, the late Phil Hughes kept living through who he considered an elder brother - Michael Clarke. On winning the 2015 World Cup final at the MCG, Clarke couldn't help an emotional outburst and dedicated the win to his 'little brother' Phil Hughes, who had passed away on November 27, 2014.

About Mohammed Siraj, who lost his father right before the cricket started between India and Australia, Clarke only has an immense amount of respect. Siraj stayed back despite his heavy personal loss, made a memorable Test debut in Melbourne, and bagged a 5-wicket haul in the Gabba Test. Clarke empathises with Siraj, who lost his father recently, since he himself had to deal with a similar situation during his career when his Dad Les was diagnosed with cancer.

"Look, I don't think words can describe how much respect I have for him. To be able to go through that. I have been in a position where I was away playing cricket and my father got diagnosed with cancer but I decided not to go home. That was tough enough. But his father passed away and for him to choose to stay and help his team, to be honest, watching him bowl on that last day, you couldn't not want him to take wickets. You wanted him to take a 5-wicket haul for everything he had gone through and sacrificed," Michael Clarke said on Sports Today.

"I wanted Australia to win the game, of course, but I couldn't be happier for a cricketer who put himself through what he has been through and shows his loyalty to that Indian cricket team. He deserves all the credit in the world."

Clarke also found Australia's approach to be defensive from the word go, in a Test which they had to win for the sake of pride and history. Clarke has expressed his disappointment in the hosts' approach on day 5 of the 4th Test.

"Australia had to win the Test. I was really surprised with our approach from Ball 1. Maybe that fear of failure was there. Again on the last day, so many fielders were on the boundary. Nathan Lyon, getting the ball to turn, you have the mid-on back. For someone like Rishabh Pant, let him hit a couple of sixes and hope he hits one straight in the air. But we continued to be quite defensive, which I think is a little different to what I think a lot of people expected. We had to win the Test match to regain the trophy," Clarke added.