Australian cricketer Steve Smith has been accused of shadow-batting at the crease and scuffle out the guard marks made by Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant, forcing him to retake the same.
After drinks break Aussie comes to shadow bat and scuffs out the batsmen’s guard marks.
— Cricket Badger (@cricket_badger) January 11, 2021
Rishabh Pant then returns and has to take guard again.#AUSvIND #AUSvsIND #AUSvINDtest pic.twitter.com/aDkcGKgUJC
The snippet of the video was shared on Twitter by cricket fan @cricket_badger. The incident happened after the drinks break when the stump camera caught Smith doing the unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Pant had to mark his guard all over again.
Cricket fans were upset over Steve Smith’s action. They slammed the Australian cricketer who was earlier found tampering ball and subsequently banned from all forms of domestic and international cricket for a year in 2018.
People were upset at the lack of sportsman spirit showed by Smith.Shame on Steve Smith.. @stevesmith49. After 1 year ban cheaters always remains cheaters.He should be punished and give him life ban from playing cricket..Australians are known for that otherwise how they can win ?
— Falgun Patel (@Falgun1872) January 11, 2021
Australians Abuse, cheat .They’re really badass.#INDvAUS #AUSvIND
So much desperation being shown. Really bad sportsmanship here by Steve Smith. The respect for them is going down day by day. Not even sure whether this is within the rules, or not.#AUSvIND https://t.co/rfqhIrDGKH
— Sohom 💫🏏🎬 (@mastiyaapa) January 11, 2021
Steve Smith is a class batsman, but he still needs to learn a lot on everything apart from that. #shameful #classless #spiritofcricket
— Akshat Mohindra (@TalesByAkshat) January 11, 2021
The incident comes close on heels of the racist abuse hurled towards Indian players Mohammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah by the drunk Australian fans in the stadium.
India is chasing a target of 407 against Australia on day 5 of the third test match in the series.