Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21: Australians upset over Steve Smith footage being presented the wrong way

India and Australia came up with a powerful performance to settle for a draw in the third Test at Sydney Cricket Ground. The Test also saw footage of Steve Smith supposedly trying to remove Rishabh Pant's batting mark, while Australians feel it has been presented wrongly.

Team Newsable

Sydney NSW, First Published Jan 12, 2021, 12:21 PM IST

It was an intense atmosphere all around on Day 5 of the third Test between India and Australia, for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), as the visitor churned out a hard-fought draw. Meanwhile, there were a couple of controversial moments that also popped out from the day.

One of the controversies arose when a stump cam footage showed Steve Smith rubbing his foot on the batting crease, while wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was having a chat with his partner at the other end. The move was slammed by fans, who believed that Smith was trying to remove Pant's batting mark.

Nonetheless, the Australians are not happy with the same, as they feel that it has been wrongly interpreted. Australian skipper, Tim Paine thinks that it is not the first time Smith has done so.

"I know he's really disappointed with the way it's come across. If you've watched Steve Smith play Test cricket, that's something he does every single game, five or six times a day. He's always standing in the batting crease, shadow batting. We know he's got those many Steve Smith quirks and one of them is he's always marking centre," said Paine during the post-match press conference.

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"He was certainly not changing guard and I'd imagine if he was then the Indian players would have kicked up a bit of a stink at the time. When he's in the field, he likes to walk up to where he bats and visualizes how he's going to play. Yesterday, you could see him up there, playing a couple of shots as a left-hander - as if [working out] where he wanted Lyno to pitch the ball. And, one of his mannerisms - he does it a lot - was marking centre, he wasn't by any stretch of the imagination trying to change guard or do anything like that," he added.

"I'm sure if people are happy to look back at the footage, you'll see it happens probably more than once a Test match with Steve. There's no way in the world he was trying to change Rishabh Pant's guard or anything like that. Now that it's come up, as it has, it's something he might have to look at because of the perception of it," he further opined.

Among the other controversy was when Paine, along with Matthew Wade, apparently tried to sledge Ravichandran Ashwin, while the latter batted. As fans slammed the Aussie for the same, he defended it by terming it nothing more than mindless chatter.

"Was it the stump mics that took away from the Test or me? It was probably my behaviour. I know - for some silly reason you forget, at times, they're on. But, I need to be better than that. I know they're on. We've seen plenty of instances in the past when you can get stuck into the batsman and do it in a way that's a lot better than the way I did it yesterday. We understand that," Paine explained.

Last Updated Jan 12, 2021, 12:21 PM IST