Australia vs India: Tim Paine has Steve Smith’s back after Sydney crease-scuffing story

Tim Paine, the Australian skipper, has backed Steve Smith after the latter was criticised for scuffing up the batting crease during the third Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In a video, Smith was seen at the striker’s end after which Rishabh Pant had to take fresh guard.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan termed Smith’s action ‘very very poor’. The talks haven’t gone down well with Smith, who is, apparently, upset. The 36-year-old Paine stated that checking out the batting crease is something Smith has done in a number of Test matches and also in domestic cricket.

It’s something Steve Smith does every single game: Paine

As per Paine, the New South Wales-born Smith is always looking to find ways of getting better. “Steve’s quite upset about it. I know he’s really disappointed with the way it’s come across,” Paine was quoted as saying to the reporters.

“If you’ve watched Steve Smith play Test cricket, that’s something he does every single game. Five or six times a day … I have seen Steve do it many times in Test matches and Shield games. Now that it’s come up … it’s something he might have to look at because of the perception,” he stated.

“I’d imagine if he was then the Indian players would have kicked up a bit of a stink at the time. He likes to walk up to where he bats and visualise how he’s going to play … he’s always marking centre.

“You could see him up there, playing a couple of shots as a left-hander, as if (working out) where he wanted Lyno (Nathan Lyon) to pitch the ball,” Paine added.

Smith didn’t have the greatest of outings in the Adelaide and Melbourne Tests, scoring only 10 runs at an average of 3.33. Just when he was deemed to be out of form, he struck his 27th Test century in the first innings of the SCG Test and silenced his critics.

Ravindra Jadeja’s direct hit ended his stay after he scored 131 with 16 fours. Even in the second innings, he scored 81 runs before getting out to Ravi Ashwin. On the back of the stupendous knocks, he also got the Player of the Match award.