“Shocked and disappointed”: Steve Smith reacts to allegations of erasing Rishabh Pant’s batting guard in Sydney Test

Steve Smith: The Australian batsman has expressed disappointed with all the allegations doing the rounds around him.

Australia batsman Steve Smith has unintentionally became the topic of discussion since yesterday after a video of him shadow practicing at the pitch had gone viral and not perceived in the best of manners.

It all had happened during a drinks break in the first session on Day 5 when Smith was seen standing where India wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant normally took his batting stance.

Smith, who is known for shadow practicing upon getting any possible opportunity, appeared to be doing the same. However, Smith marking a batting guard was perceived as him trying to scuff Pant’s guard on purpose.

The aforementioned opinion underwent a snowball effect to the extent that some former cricketers (including non-Indian ones) and millions of Indian fans alleged Smith of foul play in the form of both scuffing Pant’s guard and deteriorating the pitch condition.

This is very very poor from Steve smith !! https://t.co/UwUz7zrdzx

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 11, 2021

Steve Smith reacts to allegations of erasing Rishabh Pant’s batting guard at the SCG

While all Pant needed to do before resuming batting was to take a new guard, something which batsmen tend to do multiple times during their innings, the question of deteriorating the pitch condition was nonsensical because any ball pitching where Smith scuffed would have been converted into a full-toss.

Speaking in an interaction with News Corp, Smith expressed shock and disappointment around people perceived his actions at the SCG yesterday. Laying emphasis on his habit of marking a guard, Smith considered the allegations were not doing justice to an otherwise “great batting performance” by India.

ALSO READ: Ajinkya Rahane reveals why Rishabh Pant batted ahead of Hanuma Vihari at the SCG

“I have been quite shocked and disappointed by the reaction to this. It’s something I do in games to visualise where we are bowling, how the batter is playing our bowlers and then out of habit I always mark centre. It’s such a shame that this and other events have taken away from what was a great batting performance by India yesterday,” Smith was quoted as saying by News Corp.

Even if Smith had no ill-intention in his mind while marking a guard, the 31-year old player can restrain from doing the same especially when it has it in it to be perceived in a whole different way.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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