SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
India finally snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat in the third test match against Australia, at Sydney with a valiant effort coming in from Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin. However, there was a time when Australia appeared desperate in their quest for a victory in the Test and the evidence of that came in the unsportsmanlike behaviour of former Australian captain Steve Smith on Day 5. Smith is in the eye of a storm yet again for ‘cheating’ after a video appeared to show the disgraced former Australia captain tampering with India batsman Pant’s guard.
There was much drama in the third Test at Sydney with Australian fans accused of racism, Australian captain Tim Paine fined for dissent towards an umpire and sledging between both sides. Marred with racism claims, controversies, injuries, and intense banter between the two sides, India eventually clung on to force a draw thanks to a back-to-the-wall batting effort on the fifth day, including a 97 from Pant. It was during Pant’s innings that controversy arose, with Smith caught by a stump camera appearing to scratch his studs across the guard marks made by the batsman.
When the incident took place, Australian bowlers had no answer to Pant’s heroics, as the left-hander, with an injured elbow, and on a heavy dosage of pain-killers, was taking them to the cleaners at ease. Smith, who appears to have become controversy’s favourite child in the past couple of years, came up with a dubious move, trying to disrupt Pant's rhythm. The batsman had to waste a critical few seconds to get his guard again and also his rhythm back. However, the video has provoked an angry reaction online with former India opener Virender Sehwag leading the criticism and ‘once a cheat, always a cheat’ briefly trending on Twitter.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan described Smith’s action as “very, very poor” while Darren Gough said it was “shocking” and “plain cheating”. Smith’s work at the crease as batsman was sublime in Sydney, but it was a different kind of footwork that saw him denounced by influential figures within the sport. Interestingly, just a few years ago the cricketing world forgave Smith, who showed us all these tears and sorrow at the time when he got done for using sandpaper on the ball but now his antics around the crease – scuffing up the pitch and rubbing out the marks with his spikes is totally out of order and even calls for strong action from the cricketing board.
His teammates, and many other Australians, believe Smith has done nothing wrong. But there are many others who believe he has. His going on to the pitch and rubbing out the markers the batsman has put on to signal where he puts his bat is just not done. This is very poor sportsmanship from Smith. That was a batsman’s area, not his space to mark. Smith must understand. It is the tackiness of it that’s so hard to accept. People have compared Smith to Don Bradman. But here’s a cricketer who has been banned in a massive sandpapering scandal, and now is caught tampering with a batting mark.
One wonders, what even made Steve consider doing what he did? You won’t find the most junior cricketer getting such an idea, much less acting on it. We too wonder what made Smith, considered as among the best batsmen in the world along with Virat Kohli and others, having a huge fan following across the cricketing world and most of them young budding players, do this? What example will this set for young cricketers who look up to the batsman as a role model?
