Australia vs India: Jasprit Bumrah strangles Steve Smith down the leg-side to castle him at the MCG

Steve Smith was the man for India to look out for in the Test series against Australia. He was in great form in the ODI series having scored two centuries off just 62 balls. Looking at his record in Tests against India, many thought he will once again have fun scoring tons. But contrary to all the expectations, Smith is yet to reach double figures in four innings.

The Indian bowlers have found a way to go past World’s number 1 Test batsman time and again. If it was Ravi Ashwin on two occasions, Jasprit Bumrah managed to dismiss Steve Smith in the second innings of the Melbourne Test. After bagging a duck in the first innings, Australia would’ve expected him to fare better in the second essay and the man looked in decent touch during his brief stay as well.

India’s leg stump trap for Steve Smith

But Bumrah had other ideas. He had a perfect plan to get the better of his Aussie counterpart and this time, targeted his shuffle across the crease. In the 33rd over of the innings, the pace bowler ran in hard, even as Smith shuffled, and the leg-stump trap came into effect. Bumrah bowled it a real quick while Steve Smith tried going for a glance and missed.

The ball clipped the thigh of the batsman and clipped the leg-bail on its way to the wicket-keeper. Not many were aware of the bail falling from its grooves as the bowler appealed for leg-before dismissal. However, the Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane was aware as he spotted the bail falling only for teammates to elate over the dismissal.

It turned out to be a huge wicket in terms of the match as Steve Smith is a due a big innings and had already played a handful of deliveries in this innings. This time around, he could only score 8 runs and his total of the series in four innings is only 10 so far. His form will now be concerning for Australia as Smith hasn’t scored much since the New Zealand series in Test cricket.

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