Steve Smith was caught rubbing off the batting guard marked by Rishabh Pant by stump cam.
Team India got a breath of fresh air on the morning of Day 5 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the form of Rishabh Pant. The youngster scratched off 97 runs off the mountainous target in just 118 deliveries and raised some hopes of an Indian victory before getting out after Lunch.
While his innings was certainly a highlight of the day, Steve Smith stole some limelight, albeit for the wrong reasons. After the first one and an hour of play in the first session of the day, the players took a drink break.
Before the batsmen arrived at the batting crease to resume play, the stump camera caught Smith, who was shadow batting, was seen scrubbing off the batting guard marked by Rishabh Pant in front of the stumps.
This led to Pant asking for his guard again from the umpire, an inconvenience caused by Smith's deliberately wiping off the old guard, something he shouldn't be doing.
AUS v IND 2020-21: ‘F****g consistency, Blocker”, Tim Paine loses cool after unsuccessful review
Here's a video:
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
This certainly didn't go down well with the fans, who pounced on the cricketer for his unsportsmanlike activity and they even called him a 'cheat', again.
Here are some of the tweets from angry fans:
Steve Smith - once a cheat, always a cheat
— Marc Doria (@ILgrandeMDD) January 11, 2021
It’s why Aussies like me are going for India! Cant stand the arrogance of the Aus team
— William Cuming (@GblCtzn_Will) January 11, 2021
There's nothing Australians won't do. Haven't had an ounce of respect for 'em since '07-'08.
— Specter (@murkyshadow) January 11, 2021
Haha. Thought this was a joke at first. Seriously? Paine will be tying shoelaces together next.
— Redball ???? (@RedballT) January 11, 2021
What exactly do these Aussies get out of these petty acts lol
— Rahul Sen (@RahulSaysSo) January 11, 2021
Just play the fucking game.