Twitterati react to Rohit Sharma shadow-batting in front of Steve Smith during the Brisbane Test

Steve Smith, the Australian batsman, has had a topsy-turvy run in the 2020-21 edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He started the tour with 10 runs in the first two Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne. However, in the Sydney Test, the 31-year-old found his mojo back with a knock of 131 and 81, earning him the Player of the Match award in the drawn game.

But despite his show with the bat, the New South Wales-born got himself tangled in controversy. Smith was alleged for deliberately scuffing up Rishabh Pant’s guard marks. His actions didn’t go down well with the netizens. The likes of Michael Vaughan and many others came down hard on him.

Rohit imitates Steve Smith

In the meantime, Rohit Sharma, during the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, was seen shadow-batting at the striker’s end. It took place on the fourth day’s play when Smith was batting with Cameron Green with the hosts’ lead around 180. In the meantime, Twitterati opined on Rohit’s action. A few of them also backed Smith.

Here’s how the users on Twitter reacted: –

After the uproar, Smith was utterly disappointed and said that it wasn’t for the purpose of disturbing Pant’s momentum. He also got backing from head coach Justin Langer, also a former Australian left-handed batsman.

“It’s something I do in games to visualize where we are bowling, how the batter is playing our bowlers, and then out of habit I always mark center. It’s such a shame that this and other events have taken away from what was a great batting performance by India yesterday,”  Smith was quoted as saying.

“He’s 100% innocent. He was just standing on the crease in his own little world, his own little Steve Smith world. We’ve joked about it for the last couple of years how he’s a bit different and a bit weird with what he does with his batting stuff,” Langer said.

“He shadow bats whether he’s in the shower or in the bedroom, he does it all the time. On that wicket we just played on, you’d need 15-inch spikes to even put a little mark on the crease,” he added.