Team India skipper Virat Kohli attacks visitors after Australia captain Steve Smith is 'caught' looking up to the dressing room for DRS-assistance
Virat Kohli (centre) celebrates the dismissal of Steve Smith with Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (right) and Ajinkya Rahane (left) on Day Four of the second India-Australia Test in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/AFP
Have the Australians been cheating insofar as their use of the Decision Review System (DRS) is concerned? Indian skipper Virat Kohli all but said so during the post-match media interaction here.
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It all started with his Australian counterpart Steve Smith looking for some 'assistance' from his dressing room, very much against the ICC rules, after being struck low on the pad by a Umesh Yadav scorcher. Smith wasn't sure whether to ask for the review and so looked up for some help, which he later claimed was 'brain fade' on his part.
Kohli was having none of that. "Honestly, if someone makes a mistake while batting, for me personally, that's a brain fade. The way I left the ball in Pune, you know, getting hit on the off-stump. That was a brain fade. But if something is going on for three days, then that's not a brain fade, as simple as that," said Kohli who had claimed that this was not the first instance the Australians were seeking off-field help.
Repeat offenders
"I saw that two times when I was batting out there. I pointed it out to the umpire as well, that it's happened twice, that I've seen their players looking upstairs for confirmation, and that's why the umpire was at him (explaining why umpire Nigel Llong rushed Smith off the field). When he turned back the umpire knew exactly what was going on.
"We told the match referee also (match referee Chris Broad has reportedly denied being made aware of any such thing), and the umpires, that they've been doing that for the last three days and this has to stop," revealed Kohli.
What he added was a shocker. "There's a line that you don't cross on the cricket field. Sledging and playing against the opponents (minds) is different, but… I don't want to mention the word, but it falls in that bracket. I would never do something like that on the cricket field," he said, prompting an Australian journalist to ask if the word he didn't want to use was 'cheating.'
"You said it, I didn't," was Kohli's retort. But he did add: "I don't want to say more on that, videos are out there for everyone to see."
A dejected Steve Smith walks back to the pavilion. Pic/AFP
Smith admits mistake
In a way Smith too admitted something to that effect when he explained what happened with his dismissal. "Obviously I got hit on the pad and looked down to Handscomb and he said look out there." And where was there, he was asked. "I was looking at our boys. So shouldn't have done that," said Smith. That indeed made it seem part of a plan but Smith did add that it was the first time he was doing so.
Surely the last word hasn't been said on the issue. Controversies aren't new to series between India and Australia and given the intensity with which this series has been played thus far, there are bound to be more incidents.
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