What's new

[VIDEO] Steve Smith allegedly scuffing Rishabh Pant’s guard mark

Unless Smith's has been given additional duties of groundsmen to earn a bit extra, he had no business doing that during a live match. The act was deliberate and without reasonable cause and therefore not on the right side of law for fair play and/or within the spirit of the game.

Absolutely. It was cheap and underhanded, and entirely pointless given obviously the batsman will take his guard again anyway. Needless and idiotic
 
Enlighten us, does Smith goes on to remove everyone's guards during drinks break (not just Pant's)? If so, that's ok then.

The groundstaff does when they clean up the pitch and remove debris
 
The groundstaff does when they clean up the pitch and remove debris

I am not sure about your logic here. This thread is about Smith - A) he is not a groundstaff B) it wasn't done during break and C) it wasn't to clean up the pitch and remove debris - i.e. he had no reasonable cause but if there was one in your opinion then please enlighten all of us.
 
I am not sure about your logic here. This thread is about Smith - A) he is not a groundstaff B) it wasn't done during break and C) it wasn't to clean up the pitch and remove debris - i.e. he had no reasonable cause but if there was one in your opinion then please enlighten all of us.
He had no reasonable cause but it’s not a big deal and there is no cheating which is why no one on the field noticed and moved on. It got no advantage and we do not even know if the point was to get an advatange. I do agree it’s mindless and unprofessional.

Stop being a desi aunty trying to find an issue with everything and getting your lungi in a twist over small issues.
 
People are forgetting yesterday Bumrah removed the bails off,Iam not defending Smith but no one posted here what Bumrah has done.
 
Much ado about nothing

Problem would have been if he scuffed up area where Lyon landed the ball
 
Have to take Vaughan's word for this. Really poor behaviour but wouldn't day it was unexpected
 
Have to take Vaughan's word for this. Really poor behaviour but wouldn't day it was unexpected

Lmaooo. I don’t know about you personally but Vaughan is always taking shots at india for their unsporting behavior and is always trolling. And this to the point that it becomes national news in India. Would you say he was correct in those occasions too or do you take his words selectively as per convenience?
 
People are forgetting yesterday Bumrah removed the bails off,Iam not defending Smith but no one posted here what Bumrah has done.

If india wasn’t the opposition this wouldn’t have even made the news lol because there is nothing wrong with it... perks of having a huge population online
 
These conspiracy theories
Don’t be so judgmental
Smith may have done this to clear the pitch of uneven spots and make it smooth so pant and pujara can have fair play 🤔
 
Steve Smith, one of the most animated characters on the cricket field, was seen practising one of his usual quirks on the cricket pitch on Day 5 of the Sydney Test. During a drinks break in the 1st session, Smith was seen scuffing Rishabh Pant’s guard. The video went viral on social media and Smith was once again assigned the cheater tag.

Australia skipper Tim Paine has attested that Smith wasn’t trying to scuff up Pant’s guard at all. Paine justified his statement saying that it’s one of Smith’s regular quirks on the cricket field.

“I have spoken to Steve about this and I know he is really disappointed with the way it has come across. And if you watch Steve Smith play Test cricket, that is something that he does every single game five or six times a day," Paine said in a virtual press conference.

"He is always standing in the batting crease, shadow batting, as we know he has got those sort of many Steve Smith quirks, so one of them is he is always marking sand," he explained.

According to Paine, had Smith really gardened up Pant’s guard, the Indian players would’ve complained immediately.

"He (Smith) was certainly not changing guard and imagine if he was, then the Indian players would have kicked up a bit of stink (at) that time. But that is something I have seen Steve doing many a times in Test matches and Shield games that I have played with him, when he is in the field, he likes to sort of walk up to where he bats and visualise how is he going to play," Paine added.

After the video appeared on social media, former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag, ex England players David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan also criticised Smith’s action.

"...There is no way in the world, he was trying to change Rishabh Pant's guard or anything like that. That is just one of Smithy's thing that he does, now that it has come up like it is, again it is something he might need to look at because of the perception of it," reestablished Paine.

"One of his mannerisms, as I said he does a lot, he was marking sand and he wasn't by any stretch of imagination trying to change guard or do anything like that.”

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cr...shabh-pant-guard-tim-paine-1758233-2021-01-12
 
All within the laws of the game, you can argue about spirit all day but this is competitive test cricket, get on with it same way India used a concussion sub, same way india used Saha (better keeper) to keep wicket as Pant was "injured" but he then came out to bat perfectly fine all swings and roundabouts, if you want to be so picky then I'm sure we could unearth a lot more, however its a non issue.
 
Steven Smith said shadow batting is something he do in games to visualise where Australia is bowling, how the batter is playing Australian bowlers and then out of habit he always mark centre. It's a shame that this taken away a great batting performance of India.
 
All within the laws of the game, you can argue about spirit all day but this is competitive test cricket, get on with it same way India used a concussion sub, same way india used Saha (better keeper) to keep wicket as Pant was "injured" but he then came out to bat perfectly fine all swings and roundabouts, if you want to be so picky then I'm sure we could unearth a lot more, however its a non issue.

This. Nobody on the field said a word. The umpires didn't say anything. The opposition didn't say anything. The match referee didn't say anything. This is a complete non issue with the perennial victim mentality and witch hunting of Indian cricket coming to the fore here.

Also, I'm somewhat amazed to see the extent to which a lot of Indian fans absolutely HATE Steve Smith. Obviously has got to do something with the way he's been mauling the Indian team both home and away for 6 years now, not to mention him being the best batsman of this generation.
 
As I said it’s a non issue. But some people want to be crybabies and make preemptive excuse threads considering the situation of the game when the thread was created
 
This. Nobody on the field said a word. The umpires didn't say anything. The opposition didn't say anything. The match referee didn't say anything. This is a complete non issue with the perennial victim mentality and witch hunting of Indian cricket coming to the fore here.

Also, I'm somewhat amazed to see the extent to which a lot of Indian fans absolutely HATE Steve Smith. Obviously has got to do something with the way he's been mauling the Indian team both home and away for 6 years now, not to mention him being the best batsman of this generation.
The best batsman of this generation and the ICC cricketer of the decade is sitting home sipping tea and watching his team maul Steve Smiths Australia three times in a row.
2017
2018
2021
 
A lot of people who commented and hated on Smith without knowing the whole picture are probably sitting back now and wondering how to continue from here.

Talk about making an issue out of nothing ...
 
The best batsman of this generation and the ICC cricketer of the decade is sitting home sipping tea and watching his team maul Steve Smiths Australia three times in a row.
2017
2018
2021

Mauling was Kohli’s first ever series against Australia where India lost 4-0.

Don’t know which world is a 2-1 loss considered a mauling let alone the current 1-1.
 
Australia batsman Steve Smith says he is "shocked and disappointed" at suggestions that he deliberately scuffed up the crease during the final day of the third Test against India.

The former captain was seen on the stump camera scraping the crease with his boot during a drinks break.

Smith denied accusations he was deliberately removing the marks used to guide India's batsmen at the crease.

"It's something I do to visualise where we are bowling," Smith told News Corp.

"It's something I do to visualise 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."

Australia captain Tim Paine had earlier defended Smith, who was heavily criticised on social media, saying he was "certainly not changing a guard".

"I imagine if he was, the India players would have kicked up a bit of a stink at the time," Paine said.

"As we know, he has those many Steve Smith quirks - one of those is he is always marking centre."

India batted out a tense final day to salvage a draw, ensuring the series remained level at 1-1 going into the final Test in Brisbane, which starts on Friday.

Smith, who was sacked as captain in 2018 and banned following the ball-tampering scandal, was seen shadow batting and then scuffing the crease with his boots. When India batsman Rishabh Pant returned to the crease, he had to ask the umpire for his guard again.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan described the incident as "very, very poor".

"[Smith] is disappointed with the way it has come across," Paine said.

"That is something he does every single game, five or six times per day. He likes to walk up to where he bats and visualise where he is going to play.

"Yesterday you could see him up there playing a couple shots as left-hander as if where he wanted [Australia spinner Nathan Lyon] to pitch the ball. It is one of his mannerisms."

Pant made 97 as India - chasing an unlikely 407 to win - closed on 334-5 at the SCG.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes said: "There's only one person who knows whether he was doing it to affect the opposition batsman or not and that's Steve himself.

"You can say he was just shadow batting and doing what he normally does and it's a habit, or you can say he was trying to distract Rishabh to get him out of his zone."

Speaking from Sri Lanka, where England begin a two-Test series on Thursday, Woakes added: "It's hard for me to sit here and watch from a million miles away and say he was doing it to get into the Indian batsmen's mind.

"It is not the first time I've seen something like that happen.

"It's one of those things where a lot of the time some of that might go unnoticed, but it's such a big occasion that it's easy to jump on it."

Paine apologised for his own behaviour on the final day after he was embroiled in a sledging incident with India's Ravichandran Ashwin.

The wicketkeeper, who dropped three catches during the innings, was heard on the stump microphone using an expletive to insult Ashwin.

"I'm someone who prides himself on the way he leads this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that," said Paine, who was also fined 15% of his match fee for dissent to an umpire on day three.

"My leadership wasn't good enough, I let the pressure of the game get to me. Yesterday, I fell short of my expectations and my team's standards."

Paine has led Australia since Smith's sacking and has been credited with improving the team's culture following the incident in Cape Town for which Smith was sacked.

"I'm human. I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday," Paine added. "We've set really high standards over the last 18 months and yesterday was a bit of a blip on the radar."

Meanwhile, Australia will monitor the fitness of Will Pucovski before deciding if he is fit for the final Test.

The opener, who scored 62 on debut in the third Test, suffered a shoulder injury when diving in the field on day five.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/55629954
 
Australia batsman Steve Smith says he is "shocked and disappointed" at suggestions that he deliberately scuffed up the crease during the final day of the third Test against India.

The former captain was seen on the stump camera scraping the crease with his boot during a drinks break.

Smith denied accusations he was deliberately removing the marks used to guide India's batsmen at the crease.

"It's something I do to visualise where we are bowling," Smith told News Corp.

"It's something I do to visualise 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."

Australia captain Tim Paine had earlier defended Smith, who was heavily criticised on social media, saying he was "certainly not changing a guard".

"I imagine if he was, the India players would have kicked up a bit of a stink at the time," Paine said.

"As we know, he has those many Steve Smith quirks - one of those is he is always marking centre."

India batted out a tense final day to salvage a draw, ensuring the series remained level at 1-1 going into the final Test in Brisbane, which starts on Friday.

Smith, who was sacked as captain in 2018 and banned following the ball-tampering scandal, was seen shadow batting and then scuffing the crease with his boots. When India batsman Rishabh Pant returned to the crease, he had to ask the umpire for his guard again.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan described the incident as "very, very poor".

"[Smith] is disappointed with the way it has come across," Paine said.

"That is something he does every single game, five or six times per day. He likes to walk up to where he bats and visualise where he is going to play.

"Yesterday you could see him up there playing a couple shots as left-hander as if where he wanted [Australia spinner Nathan Lyon] to pitch the ball. It is one of his mannerisms."

Pant made 97 as India - chasing an unlikely 407 to win - closed on 334-5 at the SCG.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes said: "There's only one person who knows whether he was doing it to affect the opposition batsman or not and that's Steve himself.

"You can say he was just shadow batting and doing what he normally does and it's a habit, or you can say he was trying to distract Rishabh to get him out of his zone."

Speaking from Sri Lanka, where England begin a two-Test series on Thursday, Woakes added: "It's hard for me to sit here and watch from a million miles away and say he was doing it to get into the Indian batsmen's mind.

"It is not the first time I've seen something like that happen.

"It's one of those things where a lot of the time some of that might go unnoticed, but it's such a big occasion that it's easy to jump on it."

Paine apologised for his own behaviour on the final day after he was embroiled in a sledging incident with India's Ravichandran Ashwin.

The wicketkeeper, who dropped three catches during the innings, was heard on the stump microphone using an expletive to insult Ashwin.

"I'm someone who prides himself on the way he leads this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that," said Paine, who was also fined 15% of his match fee for dissent to an umpire on day three.

"My leadership wasn't good enough, I let the pressure of the game get to me. Yesterday, I fell short of my expectations and my team's standards."

Paine has led Australia since Smith's sacking and has been credited with improving the team's culture following the incident in Cape Town for which Smith was sacked.

"I'm human. I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday," Paine added. "We've set really high standards over the last 18 months and yesterday was a bit of a blip on the radar."

Meanwhile, Australia will monitor the fitness of Will Pucovski before deciding if he is fit for the final Test.

The opener, who scored 62 on debut in the third Test, suffered a shoulder injury when diving in the field on day five.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/55629954

It was just rubbish posting by The Indian Fan here. He desperately wants to down Smith as he is a way better test batsman than every Indian alive or dead.
 
On Social media:

"After drinks break Aussie comes to shadow bat and scuffs out the batsmen's guard marks.

Rishabh Pant then returns and has to take guard again"

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/rbk25f" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>

Risabh should complain to the ICC that remarking his guard is the reason he couldn’t get to triple figures despite the two chances Australia gave him.
 
This. Nobody on the field said a word. The umpires didn't say anything. The opposition didn't say anything. The match referee didn't say anything. This is a complete non issue with the perennial victim mentality and witch hunting of Indian cricket coming to the fore here.

Also, I'm somewhat amazed to see the extent to which a lot of Indian fans absolutely HATE Steve Smith. Obviously has got to do something with the way he's been mauling the Indian team both home and away for 6 years now, not to mention him being the best batsman of this generation.

Let it be a non issue but we as Indians should highlight it as much, these are off field issues and we should pressurize the Aussies as much as we can, am glad NZ media, English media have picked this up, personally want them suffocated, like Tim Paine is, I hope Warner, Smith , Paine find it extremely hard to express themselves.

Not sure as an Indian why do you have issues, Aussies have always played like this and this childish behavior doesn’t matter to player in the context of the game but its about winning for us however it comes.

Also for someone that like all goodie guys its amazing how you are defending Smith.
 
Australia batsman Steve Smith says he is "shocked and disappointed" at suggestions that he deliberately scuffed up the crease during the final day of the third Test against India.

The former captain was seen on the stump camera scraping the crease with his boot during a drinks break.

Smith denied accusations he was deliberately removing the marks used to guide India's batsmen at the crease.

"It's something I do to visualise where we are bowling," Smith told News Corp.

"It's something I do to visualise 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."

Australia captain Tim Paine had earlier defended Smith, who was heavily criticised on social media, saying he was "certainly not changing a guard".

"I imagine if he was, the India players would have kicked up a bit of a stink at the time," Paine said.

"As we know, he has those many Steve Smith quirks - one of those is he is always marking centre."

India batted out a tense final day to salvage a draw, ensuring the series remained level at 1-1 going into the final Test in Brisbane, which starts on Friday.

Smith, who was sacked as captain in 2018 and banned following the ball-tampering scandal, was seen shadow batting and then scuffing the crease with his boots. When India batsman Rishabh Pant returned to the crease, he had to ask the umpire for his guard again.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan described the incident as "very, very poor".

"[Smith] is disappointed with the way it has come across," Paine said.

"That is something he does every single game, five or six times per day. He likes to walk up to where he bats and visualise where he is going to play.

"Yesterday you could see him up there playing a couple shots as left-hander as if where he wanted [Australia spinner Nathan Lyon] to pitch the ball. It is one of his mannerisms."

Pant made 97 as India - chasing an unlikely 407 to win - closed on 334-5 at the SCG.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes said: "There's only one person who knows whether he was doing it to affect the opposition batsman or not and that's Steve himself.

"You can say he was just shadow batting and doing what he normally does and it's a habit, or you can say he was trying to distract Rishabh to get him out of his zone."

Speaking from Sri Lanka, where England begin a two-Test series on Thursday, Woakes added: "It's hard for me to sit here and watch from a million miles away and say he was doing it to get into the Indian batsmen's mind.

"It is not the first time I've seen something like that happen.

"It's one of those things where a lot of the time some of that might go unnoticed, but it's such a big occasion that it's easy to jump on it."

Paine apologised for his own behaviour on the final day after he was embroiled in a sledging incident with India's Ravichandran Ashwin.

The wicketkeeper, who dropped three catches during the innings, was heard on the stump microphone using an expletive to insult Ashwin.

"I'm someone who prides himself on the way he leads this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that," said Paine, who was also fined 15% of his match fee for dissent to an umpire on day three.

"My leadership wasn't good enough, I let the pressure of the game get to me. Yesterday, I fell short of my expectations and my team's standards."

Paine has led Australia since Smith's sacking and has been credited with improving the team's culture following the incident in Cape Town for which Smith was sacked.

"I'm human. I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday," Paine added. "We've set really high standards over the last 18 months and yesterday was a bit of a blip on the radar."

Meanwhile, Australia will monitor the fitness of Will Pucovski before deciding if he is fit for the final Test.

The opener, who scored 62 on debut in the third Test, suffered a shoulder injury when diving in the field on day five.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/55629954

Shocked and disappointed :20: How dumb are you, Smith? You have no business going to the crease and scuffing Rishabh's guard mark. I understand that Rishabh have given you guys tough time in every way possible, and that too by learning only few sentences of english(As per cummins), but that should not drive you to the point where you completely lose your brains. Shame on you for doing something like this. Once a cheater, always a cheater.
 
Lol the desperation to label him a cheater for this act... I’m guessing the Australian groundsman who removed the guard during drinks break is also a cheater...
 
it's clear that Smith marked center after "shadow batting"....was this done to throw Pant off? Maybe..won't be surprised because Aussies have done stupid stuff like that but it is not illegal nor a form of cheating. People should move on. It's as stupid as Langer flicking the bails off while changing ends as a fielder. This is the Aussie way of getting in to the batsman's head.
 
It was just rubbish posting by The Indian Fan here. He desperately wants to down Smith as he is a way better test batsman than every Indian alive or dead.

Yes Indian fans were suggested him to use Sandpaper & Asking for a review from team management .ye you are right Indian fans had brainfaid to ask him for those difficult tast .
 
---------------------------
Are the bad-boy Aussies making an unwelcome return?

Australia’s performance on the final day of the Sydney Test was disgraceful. The use of foul language directed at India’s Ravi Ashwin were not in the spirit of the game and raised questions over Tim Paine’s leadership, in a frustrating day for the Australian skipper.

Paine has made a public apology after reflecting on his actions but this attitude, to get personal and attack the opposition, is reflective of one of Australia’s darkest days in South Africa.

Paine was appointed captain after Steve Smith was stood down following his actions in the infamous 2018 sandpaper incident in Cape Town, with Paine’s character seeing him elevated to the second-most important job in the country.

But the hosts’ words and actions in Sydney on the final day were reminiscent of their pushing the boundaries to gain an edge.

Smith, who unfortunately will have the actions of South Africa always hanging over him, was once again embroiled in an incident caught on camera, caught rubbing out Rishabh Pant’s crease marking with his feet.

The actions were out of line and left the Australian public questioning their place.


Paine was also fined 15 per cent of his match fee for swearing at umpire Paul Wilson after a DRS decision didn’t go his team’s way.
...
..

The hope is that nothing like that ever happens again, but the way things bubble when Australia are under pressure is troubling and leaves a sour taste in fans’ mouths.

...
..

https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/01/13/are-the-bad-boy-aussies-making-an-unwelcome-return/

--------------------------------------
 
One of the comments sums it up,

----

Smith needs to be especially careful because he has a very well-documented history of doing stupid things and then passing them off as, in his own words, “brain-fades“.

---
 
Let it be a non issue but we as Indians should highlight it as much, these are off field issues and we should pressurize the Aussies as much as we can, am glad NZ media, English media have picked this up, personally want them suffocated, like Tim Paine is, I hope Warner, Smith , Paine find it extremely hard to express themselves.

Not sure as an Indian why do you have issues, Aussies have always played like this and this childish behavior doesn’t matter to player in the context of the game but its about winning for us however it comes.

Also for someone that like all goodie guys its amazing how you are defending Smith.

I'm curious to know what's your definition of a "goodie guy".


Alright take this instead- Do you how what's a glaring similarity between Rahul Dravid, Faf Du Plessis and Steve Smith?

Yes you're right. All three of these individuals have been penalized for ball tampering at some point of their careers. If that's the case then WHY the hell is it that the other two are considered the saintest of saints and universally respected while Steve Smith doing a harmless act gets presented as some sort of genocidal offense?

I just don't think Steve Smith should carry the stigma of an offense that normally entails a penalty of 1 match ban only because his cricket board consists of a bunch of clowns with no spine to back their players. Imagine how hilarious it would look if another team got caught ball tampering against Australia in the future and were to be fined a cheese burger and medium pepsi while Cricket Australia goes around handing 1 year bans to it's players without strongly advocating for a stronger standardized penalty for ball tampering.

It's obviously got something to do something with how much Steve Smith has massacred Indian bowling over the years, not to mention the Kohli cultists who deep down can't deal with the fact that Smith has left Kohli far behind in the race of batsmanship considering he's far better in Tests and ODI Tournaments (especially Knockouts) which are two of the highest forms of the game.
 
Last edited:
I'm curious to know what's your definition of a "goodie guy".


Alright take this instead- Do you how what's a glaring similarity between Rahul Dravid, Faf Du Plessis and Steve Smith?

Yes you're right. All three of these individuals have been penalized for ball tampering at some point of their careers. If that's the case then WHY the hell is it that the other two are considered the saintest of saints and universally respected while Steve Smith doing a harmless act gets presented as some sort of genocidal offense?

I just don't think Steve Smith should carry the stigma of an offense that normally entails a penalty of 1 match ban only because his cricket board consists of a bunch of clowns with no spine to back their players. Imagine how hilarious it would look if another team got caught ball tampering against Australia in the future and were to be fined a cheese burger and medium pepsi while Cricket Australia goes around handing 1 year bans to it's players without strongly advocating for a stronger standardized penalty for ball tampering.

It's obviously got something to do something with how much Steve Smith has massacred Indian bowling over the years, not to mention the Kohli cultists who deep down can't deal with the fact that Smith has left Kohli far behind in the race of batsmanship considering he's far better in Tests and ODI Tournaments (especially Knockouts) which are two of the highest forms of the game.

Wow you are taking "fan boy" level to next stage..my issue is only why shouldn't we as Indians mock them and reshare all other cricketer's tweets to pressurize them.. its part of the off field tactics...

I don't care what he has done personally, anything to win.. my only issue is why you have an issue with the off field pressure on him.

I hold the same logic for Smith,Warner,Paine suffocate them off field on field I don't care if he is Don Bradman 2.0 till he is playing for Aus.
 
Wow you are taking "fan boy" level to next stage..my issue is only why shouldn't we as Indians mock them and reshare all other cricketer's tweets to pressurize them.. its part of the off field tactics...

I don't care what he has done personally, anything to win.. my only issue is why you have an issue with the off field pressure on him.

I hold the same logic for Smith,Warner,Paine suffocate them off field on field I don't care if he is Don Bradman 2.0 till he is playing for Aus.

It's definitely an issue when it's branded as "cheating", something which it clearly isn't. It sets a bad precedent of witch hunting without any substance. Also, I don't know if you realize this or not - but you can still follow cricket without being a raging nationalist all the time. Sometimes the voice of reason has to supersede whatever your "off field tactics" entail.
 
It's definitely an issue when it's branded as "cheating", something which it clearly isn't. It sets a bad precedent of witch hunting without any substance. Also, I don't know if you realize this or not - but you can still follow cricket without being a raging nationalist all the time. Sometimes the voice of reason has to supersede whatever your "off field tactics" entail.

My first post on this thread said its not cheating just petty.

Voice of reason? Yes with all other teams in cricket except Aus.. I guess Aus are clearly some white doves in your head..just coz they are next to NZ doesn’t mean they are NZ..
 
My first post on this thread said its not cheating just petty.

I wasn't addressing you in particular.

Voice of reason? Yes with all other teams in cricket except Aus.. I guess Aus are clearly some white doves in your head..just coz they are next to NZ doesn’t mean they are NZ..

So you agree that this the recent criticism has nothing to do with rationality but only because in Indian fans' eyes Aus are not "some white doves"?

Nice to see we're getting on the same page here.
 
It's pretty poor behaviour from Smith, but not cheating. It doesn't reflect well on the Australian team because add to that:

Wade's mock charge at Ashwin, and

Paine's nasty chuntering at Ashwin

you have another instance in the trend of Australian teams losing it when games get tight and frustration mounts.
 
Shocked and disappointed :20: How dumb are you, Smith? You have no business going to the crease and scuffing Rishabh's guard mark. I understand that Rishabh have given you guys tough time in every way possible, and that too by learning only few sentences of english(As per cummins), but that should not drive you to the point where you completely lose your brains. Shame on you for doing something like this. Once a cheater, always a cheater.
Yeah, Smith is extremely dumb if he feels shocked over this episode. Did he forget how many times has he cheated in the past?

As a cricketer of integrity, he is nowhere near the ATGs and hence isn't fit enough to be counted amongst them.

Integrity is equally important as talent, and Smith is big zero on this count.
 
I am willing to give Steve Smith benefit of doubt. If he just wanted to visualize how Pant bats and then suggest his bowlers how to bowl, I am okay with it.

It is annoying as a batsman wherein he has to mark his guard multiple times. Same for umpire.

Otherwise no big deal.
 
Justin Langer personally called two England cricket greats to address their furious criticism of Australian superstar Steve Smith’s divisive actions at the SCG.

Vision of Smith stepping on to the pitch to shadow bat and mark middle stump with the sole of his boot set off cricket greats around the world in the wake of the third Test this week.

While batting great Virender Sehwag helped spark the fury among Indian fans, Darren Gough in particular became one of the most critical ex-players.

“You’ve got Steve Smith, who showed us all these tears and sorrow just a few years ago when he got done for sandpaper on the ball,” Gough told talkSPORT radio.

“Well now during a break in play between overs he’s dancing around and scuffing up the pitch and rubbing out the marks with his spikes, the batsman’s marker.

“That was totally out of order. People say he’s done nothing wrong - well he has!

“He’s going onto the pitch... and rubbing out the markers the batsman has put on to (signal) where he puts his bat. It’s plain cheating in my book.”

Michael Vaughan, following the series from home in England after cancelling his usual commentary commitments due to the coronavirus pandemic, said it was “very, very poor” from Smith.

Already defended by Australian captain Tim Paine and NSW teammate Trent Copeland, Smith spoke out himself on Wednesday.

“I have been quite shocked and disappointed by the reaction to this,” he told News Corp.

“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.”

But public clarifications did not go far enough for Langer.

The infuriated Australian coach picked up his phone on Tuesday evening and confronted the “ludicrous” criticisms by Gough and Vaughan.

“I’ve actually spoken to Darren Gough about it, I rang him last night, I spoke to Michael Vaughan as well,” Langer told SEN radio on Wednesday morning.

“I thought it was out of line actually. I thought it was completely - for an ex-player, to say what he said, you get it from the critics, some of the stuff that we heard in England last year.

“But I don’t expect that from there. I know he makes a living out of making those sorts of comments, but I thought he was out of line.

“Everything about Steve Smith is absolutely ludicrous, anyone who knows Steve Smith - we’ve laughed about it for the last couple of years how he’s a bit quirky and a bit different, he shadow bats in the shower.

“All he thinks about is batting. He certainly consciously wasn’t trying to do (anything wrong), he was just standing there thinking about batting.

“I’m going to defend him - he’s 100 per cent innocent in this, he didn’t do anything on the pitch.

“If anyone else knows anything about cricket, the wicket at the SCG was like concrete, he would’ve needed 15-inch spikes to make an indent, to do what people are accusing him of doing of trying to mess up Pant’s guard.

“Give me a break, I’ve never heard such rubbish in my life.”

Copeland, who was on site at the SCG working as a Channel 7 commentator, said the ex-players who “chimed in from overseas” didn’t understand the context.

“I have seen Steve Smith as a teammate and watching him as a commentator in the last 10 years do this a million times,” he told Sunrise.

“The initial part of this video is at drinks, standing there and thinking about the footmarks in play, shadow batting and essentially figuring out tactically what they can do (as a fielding side to get the batter out).

“And after that, it becomes a habitual marking of centre that he does so many times when he bats.

“And then Rishabh Pant comes out to the crease (after drinks), even if the mark was scratched out or was there already, a lot of batsmen retake their guard after drinks.

“But if you ask Rishabh Pant if he has an issue with it, I’m sure he would say no.”

https://7news.com.au/sport/cricket/...ts-over-steve-smith-cheating-claims-c-1947867
 
Yeah, Smith is extremely dumb if he feels shocked over this episode. Did he forget how many times has he cheated in the past?

As a cricketer of integrity, he is nowhere near the ATGs and hence isn't fit enough to be counted amongst them.

Integrity is equally important as talent, and Smith is big zero on this count.

Yeah players like Faf, Dravid, Tendulkar have all cheated like Smith and cant be counted as ATG's.
 
Smith always does this, so should be allowed to continue. No one else had problem before the indians raised hue and cry.
 
There only difference between Steve a Smith and guys like Tendulkar, Dravid and others guilty of ball tampering is that their boards went with ICC’s punishment of match fines and max a few games whereas Cricket Australia banned him for a year.

Steve Smith was not banned for a year by ICC. His board have a punishment on top of it.
 
Last edited:
And this isn’t cheating. Perhaps someone above is right that maybe the Indian fans have special ire for him and want to brand him a cheat but not call Dravid and Tendulkar that for the same crime and that is due to the numerous spankings he’s given them and that his record in Border-Gavaskar trophy is better than Kohli’s not only in Australia but also in India.
 
And this isn’t cheating. Perhaps someone above is right that maybe the Indian fans have special ire for him and want to brand him a cheat but not call Dravid and Tendulkar that for the same crime and that is due to the numerous spankings he’s given them and that his record in Border-Gavaskar trophy is better than Kohli’s not only in Australia but also in India.

I will be frank, I am a huge Steve Smith fan, I feel he is a better test batsman than Kohli. I supported him quite strongly when at work my Caucasian Aussie colleagues were calling for him to be banned for life.

However, after thinking about it a little; this is not good, to do what he did in broad daylight, I keep thinking why would he do this ? what possible reason could it be if he was not trying to cheat ? maybe annoy the batsmen and remove his guard ? either way it was very poor.

Does this set a precedent for other teams to do the same ? if an opposition player did the exact same thing to a set Babar Azam at the crease, would that be ok to do, moving forward ?

A lot of questions here, this is not a small incident as some are making it out to be.
 
I will be frank, I am a huge Steve Smith fan, I feel he is a better test batsman than Kohli. I supported him quite strongly when at work my Caucasian Aussie colleagues were calling for him to be banned for life.

.

The above was during the sandgate period @ Slog..
 
There only difference between Steve a Smith and guys like Tendulkar, Dravid and others guilty of ball tampering is that their boards went with ICC’s punishment of match fines and max a few games whereas Cricket Australia banned him for a year.

Steve Smith was not banned for a year by ICC. His board have a punishment on top of it.
lol, how can anyone in their right mind compare to what Smith did and what Dravid & Tendulkar did? What Smith did was institutional cheating helmed by him...
 
Mauling was Kohli’s first ever series against Australia where India lost 4-0.

Don’t know which world is a 2-1 loss considered a mauling let alone the current 1-1.
You didn't watch the 2018 series, did you.
The 4th test ended in a draw due to weather conditions, aus was following on.
So it was basically 3-1
Secondly Smith wasn't a part of That aus team in 2011
Also Kohli was a part of the indian team when we whitewashed them in 2012.
 
England fast bowling legend Darren Gough has thrashed Australia for their antics during the third Test against India in Sydney which was overshadowed by accusation of cheating against Steve Smith as footage emerged of him scuffing up the batting marker of Rishabh Pant during a break. While Smith himself has explained his actions and how disappointed he’s by the controversy around it, it still continues to polarise the cricketing world.

Gough has been highly critical of Australia captain Tim Paine crossing the line during a tense fifth and final day when his heated exchange with Ravichandran Ashwin was picked up by the stump mic leading to him later calling a media interaction to issue an apology. Paine had a Test to forget as he not only drew flak for his conduct that saw him being fined earlier for showing dissent to umpire before the sledging incident but also for his performance as he dropped three vital catches as well.

“Tim Paine disagrees with a decision, the captain by the way who was supposed to make Australia like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth,” Gough told talkSPORT. “He’s been fined because he showed dissent on an unsuccessful DRS review in India’s first innings. Then day five when Australia are under pressure and India are showing a huge fightback. This is when it happens with Australia. When they are under pressure they go for it. They go for it like no other team in the world.”

Gough then went on to slam Smith who stepped down as captain in 2018 following the ball-tampering scandal.

“It just went a little bit too far. First of all you had Steve Smith who showed us all these tears and sorrow a few years ago when they got done for using sandpaper on the ball, he was the captain who was responsible for that because he was the leader of the team,” he said.

Gough, who played 58 Tests, 159 ODIs and two T20Is between 1994 and 2006, termed Smith’s act as ‘plain cheating’

“He’s going onto the pitch and trying to make it worse for the spinners to bowl onto a length. Then he’s rubbing out the markers for the batsmen where he puts his bat. It’s plain cheating in my book,” he said.

“The second one, because they are under pressure, Tim Paine had already dropped a catch, he decided to get stuck into Ashwin. What he didn’t expect was for Ashwin to come back. They just are dropping back into that zone. You have to keep an eye on this. Australia get your act together right now. It’s embarrassing,” he added.

The fourth and final Test of the series will get underway from January 15 at The Gabba.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news...ed-of-plain-cheating-by-england-legend-965880
 
I will be frank, I am a huge Steve Smith fan, I feel he is a better test batsman than Kohli. I supported him quite strongly when at work my Caucasian Aussie colleagues were calling for him to be banned for life.

However, after thinking about it a little; this is not good, to do what he did in broad daylight, I keep thinking why would he do this ? what possible reason could it be if he was not trying to cheat ? maybe annoy the batsmen and remove his guard ? either way it was very poor.

Does this set a precedent for other teams to do the same ? if an opposition player did the exact same thing to a set Babar Azam at the crease, would that be ok to do, moving forward ?

A lot of questions here, this is not a small incident as some are making it out to be.

This is a small incident. There is nothing in the law to say this is wrong.

In fact if anyone has gone and watched test cricket and paid attention then they would know that usually every other break, the groundsmen come and clean debris off the ***** often messing the batsmen’s guard and they just take a new guard and move on. This is also why there was no reaction from Pant and most likely he did not even notice. It’s just natural instinct to take guard again and move on with your batting.

People here are acting as if Smith secretly went and changed grips of Pant’s bat or put a crack in the middle of the bat or something while Pant was having a drink.

All I see is desperation and it is an even more desperate preemptive thread considering he context of the game in relation to the timing of the thread.
 
You didn't watch the 2018 series, did you.
The 4th test ended in a draw due to weather conditions, aus was following on.
So it was basically 3-1
Secondly Smith wasn't a part of That aus team in 2011
Also Kohli was a part of the indian team when we whitewashed them in 2012.

Im giving you an example of what is considered mauling.

The simple fact is that in H2H, Smith has outperformed Kohli both in Australia and in India but that’s another debate beyond topic of the thread. Just correcting you.
 
The above was during the sandgate period @ Slog..

Your white colleagues are entitled to their opinion. They I guess hold their cricketers to higher standards because whenever an Indian or Pakistani cricketer like Dravid or Akhtar has been punished for ball tampering, our respective boards don’t do anything beyond the regular ICC mandated fine and 1-2 ODI games ban. Cricket Australia instituted a draconian punishment on top of the lenient ICC ban.
 
[MENTION=428]Romali_rotti[/MENTION] - how do you think it is cheating? Do you even know what is going on? In the most harshest case, it can be called petty or Smith doing what he shouldn’t be doing. But he isn’t gaining any advatange unless Pant is dumb enough to forget how to take a guard again which he would have had to do at the start of the next session anyway.

Over the course of a day, batting guards are regularly erased and then taken again. Sometimes batsmen literally do it themselves when they want to change an angle or something. Often in drinks and almost always in lunch or tea breaks, the ground staff clean the pitch and remove the debris. Always the batsmen has to take the guard again.

This is definitely no cheating.
 
This is a small incident. There is nothing in the law to say this is wrong.

In fact if anyone has gone and watched test cricket and paid attention then they would know that usually every other break, the groundsmen come and clean debris off the ***** often messing the batsmen’s guard and they just take a new guard and move on. This is also why there was no reaction from Pant and most likely he did not even notice. It’s just natural instinct to take guard again and move on with your batting.

People here are acting as if Smith secretly went and changed grips of Pant’s bat or put a crack in the middle of the bat or something while Pant was having a drink.

All I see is desperation and it is an even more desperate preemptive thread considering he context of the game in relation to the timing of the thread.

Why do you think Smith did this ? Also if Smith did this while Babar was at the crease, would that be OK with you ?
 
[MENTION=428]Romali_rotti[/MENTION] - how do you think it is cheating? Do you even know what is going on? In the most harshest case, it can be called petty or Smith doing what he shouldn’t be doing. But he isn’t gaining any advatange unless Pant is dumb enough to forget how to take a guard again which he would have had to do at the start of the next session anyway.

Over the course of a day, batting guards are regularly erased and then taken again. Sometimes batsmen literally do it themselves when they want to change an angle or something. Often in drinks and almost always in lunch or tea breaks, the ground staff clean the pitch and remove the debris. Always the batsmen has to take the guard again.

This is definitely no cheating.

Its not cheating but because Smith is Australian its cheating, if this was a brown player then it wouldent even be a discussion.
 
Why do you think Smith did this ? Also if Smith did this while Babar was at the crease, would that be OK with you ?

I def have no issue with it. If Babar is being affected by this non issue then he has mental issues to sort out. Even in this case Pant didn’t even notice. Heck in a drink session after tea the groundsmen came and cleaned the debris off the pitch and removed the guard. I saw it live and was unable to take a video but put a pic I was able to take. This is a very regular occurrence on part of the groundsmen.

I don’t know why Smith did it. Most likely it was mindless shadow batting and he is known to be bit of a neurotic OCD person always thinking about his batting. If he had some malintention then he may have done it to distract Pant but I assure you if that was the case then it was a very ineffective, stupid move .
 
Last edited:
I def have no issue with it. If Babar is being affected by this non issue then he has mental issues to sort out. Even in this case Pant didn’t even notice. Heck in a drink session after tea the groundsmen came and cleaned the debris off the pitch and removed the guard. I saw it live and was unable to take a video but put a pic I was able to take. This is a very regular occurrence on part of the groundsmen.

I don’t know why Smith did it. Most likely it was mindless shadow batting and he is known to be bit of a neurotic OCD person always thinking about his batting. If he had some malintention then he may have done it to distract Pant but I assure you if that was the case then it was a very ineffective, stupid move .

I actually I did a search on twitter and I found the video: https://twitter.com/redcherrytweets/status/1348938694695088131?s=21

This is literally not an issue. Anyone’s who’s making it an issue either has a victim complex or has never played the game or watched it live in the ground at a competitive level
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Totally agree Trent. He has lots of quirky habits and you can twist anything to suit a story but to suggest S. Smith it doing anything sinister or cheating is so far from the truth it’s not funny.</p>— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) <a href="https://twitter.com/juniorwaugh349/status/1348900426641412098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don’t know why Smith did it. Most likely it was mindless shadow batting and he is known to be bit of a neurotic OCD person always thinking about his batting. If he had some malintention then he may have done it to distract Pant but I assure you if that was the case then it was a very ineffective, stupid move .

My issue here is that, if you look at the video; Steve Smith went to the crease and took a Left Handed Batsmen's position (Pant is a left handed bat) and then scrubbed the pitch.

Had he taken a Right Handed Batsmen's position (Smith is RHB) and then scrubbed the pitch, I could've said to myself; Ahh that's just the batsmen in Steve, just trying to get the feel of the batsman's game and eager to bat.

However to me, this had a malicious intent, be it, to make it inconvenient for Pant or to aid Nathan Lyon, this was just very poor from Smith...
 
Its hilarious to see Smith's apologists trying to ignore Smith's blatant cheating in his ball tampering episode or brainfade thing. Lest they forget, he was leading his side, with his team members caught tampering with the ball with impunity for god alone knows for how long.

OCD, lol keep excuses coming for the cheat....
 
Theres videos going around showing ground staff swept away his guard even before smith had a go, do we ban the ground staff too? Also i find it morally strange Pant was not able to keep due to an injury which allowed a better keeper to stand in but which seemed to disappear when he came out to bat. Both Morally wrong, i will let you decide which has more impact on the game?
 
He's standing in a left hander's position looking down the pitch (he's right-handed by the way).

Then as he's about to walk away, he decides he'll mark out "his guard" before walking off.

So let me get this straight. It's OCD for Steve Smith, while he's fielding, to mark out his guard on the pitch after finishing his left handed shadow batting?

I hope this habit doesn't actually translate to when he's actually batting, he won't score very much :)))
 
He's standing in a left hander's position looking down the pitch (he's right-handed by the way).

Then as he's about to walk away, he decides he'll mark out "his guard" before walking off.

So let me get this straight. It's OCD for Steve Smith, while he's fielding, to mark out his guard on the pitch after finishing his left handed shadow batting?

I hope this habit doesn't actually translate to when he's actually batting, he won't score very much :)))

Did you read any of the articles in this thread? He likes to visualise who the batter is and how the bowling is looking from their perspective.

Do you really think if he had some grand plan to scuff up Pants marks, he woudnt have just come and batted in his normal stance and done it more subtly?

I hate when people change how they view a situation purely due to their bias. Like [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] has done here because it was smith. Had it been Kohli things would have been very different.
 
My issue here is that, if you look at the video; Steve Smith went to the crease and took a Left Handed Batsmen's position (Pant is a left handed bat) and then scrubbed the pitch.

Had he taken a Right Handed Batsmen's position (Smith is RHB) and then scrubbed the pitch, I could've said to myself; Ahh that's just the batsmen in Steve, just trying to get the feel of the batsman's game and eager to bat.

However to me, this had a malicious intent, be it, to make it inconvenient for Pant or to aid Nathan Lyon, this was just very poor from Smith...

There is NO WAY Lyon was being aided. If you are saying that he was then you don’t understand cricket.

If pant is being inconvenienced then he has things to worry about because then the groundsmen are also inconveniencing him.
 
There is NO WAY Lyon was being aided. If you are saying that he was then you don’t understand cricket.

If pant is being inconvenienced then he has things to worry about because then the groundsmen are also inconveniencing him.

Brooms are designed to remove surface debris, a batsman isn't going to have much luck trying to mark their guard with a broom.
 
I cant even understand why this would be morally wrong. How did it give an unfair advantage to the aussies?

If you see, Rishabh was handing a beating to the Aussies.

The guard is important for batsmen, it helps them feel natural in their crease and it makes sure that they have enough traction and grip from their boots when they are batting.

If Smith took off Pant's guard, it means that Pant has to dig it up again, and it means that he might have not been as comfortable as before, and it would have meant that he would not have been alligned in the same manner as before. Angles are everything in cricket, being an inch off could be the difference between a close call and an edge.
 
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Michael vaughan (@michaelvaughan)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

Capture.jpg

So Smith actually broke rules and people are defending it.Same people attack Ashwin for mankad which is within the rules.Hypocrisy at its best :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Huh what?

Comparing brushing a broom (an object only designed to remove debris left on the surface) over a surface to scraping away at a surface with a boot is a false equivalence. There is no reasonable cause for Smith to need to be scraping at the pitch making his actions against the laws of the game.
 
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9XKKyLe5_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Michael vaughan (@michaelvaughan)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

View attachment 106097

So Smith actually broke rules and people are defending it.Same people attack Ashwin for mankad which is within the rules.Hypocrisy at its best :)

It was obvious that it wasn’t allowed. I didn’t need to look into any rule book. More humiliation for our fans who were defended the biggest cheat in world cricket. As I said, this series has been a bigger nightmare for Pakistani fans than Australian players.
 
Did you read any of the articles in this thread? He likes to visualise who the batter is and how the bowling is looking from their perspective.

Do you really think if he had some grand plan to scuff up Pants marks, he woudnt have just come and batted in his normal stance and done it more subtly?

I hate when people change how they view a situation purely due to their bias. Like [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] has done here because it was smith. Had it been Kohli things would have been very different.

If he has OCD he needs to find another outlet to relieve himself. He has no business stepping into the playing area as a fielder and breaking rules. He is a cheat and there is no way around it.

Our fans have already been left red-faced in this series because their celebrations after Adelaide proved premature and blew in their faces. They are now so desperate that they have to defend a blatant act of cheating by the serial cheater Smith.

No put has to put with Smith’s garbage of doing shadow practicing and visualizing from the batsmen’s perspective. He needs to take his whacky nonsense elsewhere and not step onto the playing area when he is fielding.
 
Did you read any of the articles in this thread? He likes to visualise who the batter is and how the bowling is looking from their perspective.

Do you really think if he had some grand plan to scuff up Pants marks, he woudnt have just come and batted in his normal stance and done it more subtly?

I hate when people change how they view a situation purely due to their bias. Like [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] has done here because it was smith. Had it been Kohli things would have been very different.


He can do that without stepping on the pitch
 
There is no cheating.

It literally is Twitter trolls like Sehwag and Vaughan + desperate Indian twitter trolls VS almost every other cricketer who has given an explanation.

Indian fans need to find another outlet to show their desperation.
 
If he has OCD he needs to find another outlet to relieve himself. He has no business stepping into the playing area as a fielder and breaking rules. He is a cheat and there is no way around it.

Our fans have already been left red-faced in this series because their celebrations after Adelaide proved premature and blew in their faces. They are now so desperate that they have to defend a blatant act of cheating by the serial cheater Smith.

No put has to put with Smith’s garbage of doing shadow practicing and visualizing from the batsmen’s perspective. He needs to take his whacky nonsense elsewhere and not step onto the playing area when he is fielding.

Which rules did he break and why wasn't he fined? Perhaps you know more than the umpires, referees, media personnel at the ground and of course the players.
 
There is no cheating.

It literally is Twitter trolls like Sehwag and Vaughan + desperate Indian twitter trolls VS almost every other cricketer who has given an explanation.

Indian fans need to find another outlet to show their desperation.

And the explanation is a joke.

“This guy is whacky so please let him do his whacky stuff wherever he wants. He doesn’t mean any harm, he is just messed up in the head”
 
He can do that without stepping on the pitch


He can, but he prefers to do it on the exact position the batsman will be standing. And if it has never been an issue before in his career, he hasn't had any reason to stop.

Maybe now he will rethink it because of the reaction of biased and unknowledgeable fans like the ones in this thread.
 
Back
Top