Australian skipper Tim Paine on Tuesday defended star batsman Steve Smith, who was accused of scuffing up the guard mark of Rishabh Pant through the drawn third Test in Sydney, asserting that the Indian group would have raked up the concern if any incorrect was committed. Smith, a former Australia captain, was noticed scuffing up the batsman’s guard through drinks break in the initial session on Monday. Pant produced a whirlwind 97 to give India a shot at winning the match in pursuit of 407 but it ended in a draw.
“I have spoken to Steve about this and I know he is really disappointed with the way it has come across. And if you watch Steve Smith play Test cricket, that is something that he does every single game five or six times a day,” Paine mentioned in a virtual press conference.
“He is always standing in the batting crease, shadow batting, as we know he has got those sort of many Steve Smith quirks, so one of them is he is always marking sand,” he explained.
Paine mentioned had Smith changed the guard marks, the Indian group would have taken up the concern.
“He (Smith) was certainly not changing guard and imagine if he was, then the Indian players would have kicked up a bit of stink (at) that time,” he mentioned.
“But that is something I have seen Steve doing many a times in Test matches and Shield games that I have played with him, when he is in the field, he likes to sort of walk up to where he bats and visualise how is he going to play,” Paine elaborated.
Paine mentioned offered how this has been perceived, particularly by cricket fans on the internet, there would be reconsideration
“…There is no way in the world, he was trying to change Rishabh Pant’s guard or anything like that. That is just one of Smithy’s thing that he does, now that it has come up like it is, again it is something he might need to look at because of the perception of it,” stressed Paine.
After the video emerged, Smith faced criticism on social media by fans and former India opener Virender Sehwag.
“One of his mannerisms, as I said he does a lot, he was marking sand and he wasn’t by any stretch of imagination trying to change guard or do anything like that,” reiterated Paine.
In the 2018, Smith was involved in the ball-tampering scandal that took spot through the third Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.
Subsequently, Smith, along with then vice-captain David Warner, was banned for 12 months from international and domestic cricket. He was replaced by Paine as the Australian captain
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