Rohit Sharma was seen shadow batting at the crease even as Steve Smith and Cameron Green, the Australian batsmen at the crease, watched on Day 4 of the fourth Test in Brisbane. Smith was accused of scuffing up Rishabh Pant’s guard during the Sydney Test. However, Australia captain Tim Paine, coach Justin Langer and even Smith denied any wrongdoing. India vice-captain Rohit, unlike Smith, wasn’t seen scuffing the batsmen’s guard even as he shadow-batted between overs during the change of ends.
Rohit doing a Steve Smith @ImRo45#INDvsAUSTest
#IndiavsAustralia #AUSvsIND #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/W1t1GiyCLG— D s 45 (@imDs45) January 18, 2021
“I have been quite shocked and disappointed by the reaction,” Smith had told News Corp last week after the controversy broke out.
“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.
Langer had called the allegations against Smith “absolute rubbish.”
“As for Steve Smith, I literally cannot believe some of the rubbish I’ve read — absolute load of rubbish,” Langer said last week.
“I mean, anyone who knows Steve Smith, he is a bit quirky… and we have all laughed about it for the last couple of years.
“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.
Promoted
India batting coach Vikram Rathour brushed the incident under the carpet, saying it didn’t matter to the Indians.
“Basically, we didn’t even know about the incident. We knew only after the game when the media picked it up. As a batsman, Rishabh Pant wasn’t even aware. I wouldn’t like to comment as it hardly mattered,” said Rathour ahead of the fourth Test.
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