Rohit Sharma pulls off an Steve Smith in the Brisbane test

Brisbane test: As Rohit Sharma, India’s explosive batsman, stepped on the ground in the fourth test in Brisbane, he was seen practicing shadowing at the crease. Fans were quick to point out that Australian batsman Steve Smith was not the only batsman to shadow practice. 

Earlier Australian batsman–Steve Smith and Cameron Green–were seen practicing shadow batting at the crease. This led people to speculate that Smith, in fact, might be disturbing or scuffing Rishabh Pant’s guard in Sydney. Despite the speculations of people, Australian management including the coach Justin Langer, Time Paine and Smith denied any wrongdoings. 

Sharma however was not seen scuffing but in the middle of the game was seen practicing shadow batting during the overs ahead of the change of sides. Unlike what was done by the Australian batsman, Sharma was seen in a jovial mood and made sure to not mark the guard. 

When Smith was accused of guarding the crease, he addressed the issue saying that it is something that he does quite frequently and it is only to visualise the bowling pattern. He added, “I have been quite shocked and disappointed by the reaction.”

“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,” he added. Even the coach called the allegations completely baseless. 

“What Steve Smith does at the crease he does it probably most games, he’s just thinking about the game. Anyone who suggests for one millisecond he was trying to do something untoward, they’re way out of line,” Langer added. He also said that some of the reports are rubbish against the batsman. 

While the Indian side did not care enough for the incident, at least that is what the Indian batting coach said Vikram Rathore. 

Rathour said that the team did not even notice the incident and that they came to know about the incident only after the media started talking about it. Even for Pant, it did not matter, said the batting coach. 

Australia has set a strong target against India of 382 on board. Despite the challenges, Indian pacers did not disappoint. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur made sure that Australians do not have it easy and continue to deliver tough balls to them. A win in the fourth test will definitely boost India’s confidence given the fact that many of the major players are not a part of the team due to injury.