Smith has become the talk of the town for exploiting a little-known loophole in DRS.
On Day 2 of the third Test, Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey took the bails off the stumps from time to time when a ball passed the bat of an Indian batter, leading to the visiting players appealing for a stumping.
As a result, the umpires were forced to go to the third umpire to review the stumping. However, the third umpire is needed to check whether the ball has nicked the bat on the way through during the DRS process, meaning the tourists got a free review for caught behind.
It is worth mentioning here that teams are given three reviews each innings but the ploy from Smith meant that the Aussies got far more than their allotment.
The sneaky trick was exposed on social media by the fans before former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel also highlighted it.
"Steve Smith is aware of that and he exploited the loophole. The on-field umpire should avoid going to the third umpire if he is sure that it's not out when there is an appeal for a stumping," Parthiv told Cricbuzz. "The ideal solution is that the TV umpire should only review the stumping if the appeal is made only for a stumping. A caught behind should not be checked unless the fielding captain opts for a review."
Notably, this trick worked Australia in India’s first innings in Indore as they got rid of R Ashwin, who had nicked a delivery from Matthew Kuhnemann.
On completing the caught behind, Carey removed the bails and square-leg umpire Joel Wilson sent it upstairs for stumping review. Before the stumping got checked, TV umpire found that Ashwin had nicked the delivery and was dismissed for 3.