Australian captain Smith was not happy when his last wicket fell in a pretty controversial way. Hazelwood was given out lbw by the third umpire after he reviewed the case while team India was appealing for a catch on this ball.
Ashwin was the bowler here and this was a straight ball from him. Hazelwood was not much forward while defending this ball and it hit him on his pads. The ball was taken in the slips by Vijay and team India made an appeal here. Now the umpire raised his finger.
By the gesture of the Indian team it was looking that they went for a catch. The decision was reviewed by the Australians and the third umpire gave this one out lbw. The ball did not hit the pads. Now Smith for some reason got angry while standing in the dressing room.
Vijay, in the process of getting himself ready to start batting, had to abandon those plans and sprint back on to the park. As the TV camera panned to the Australian dressing room, Smith was clearly caught mouthing the ‘f***ing cheat’ remark. How, sitting some 70 yards away, he had read Vijay’s mind – that the Indian opener knew he had not taken the catch fairly but had yet claimed it – only Smith can reveal, because he obviously knew that Vijay was cheating. While he himself had not been in Bangalore. Oh how the penny drops sometimes.
Having fielded enough times in the slips, and taken some stunning catches including two on Monday, Smith should know better than to level allegations he cannot substantiate when it comes to catching. The low catch is, anyone who has played even a reasonable level of cricket knows, the most difficult to not just hold but also the one where sometimes you don’t realise that you might have caught the ball on the bounce, especially if the ball has bounced extremely close to the hand. The two-dimensional images seemed to indicate that the ball might have bounced before Vijay caught it. To give it the cheat slant that Smith did reflected extremely poor on the Australian captain who probably thinks only he is entitled to take offence to his integrity being questioned, but that it should not apply to the others when he is making such ludicrous claims.
Ashwin was the bowler here and this was a straight ball from him. Hazelwood was not much forward while defending this ball and it hit him on his pads. The ball was taken in the slips by Vijay and team India made an appeal here. Now the umpire raised his finger.
By the gesture of the Indian team it was looking that they went for a catch. The decision was reviewed by the Australians and the third umpire gave this one out lbw. The ball did not hit the pads. Now Smith for some reason got angry while standing in the dressing room.
Vijay, in the process of getting himself ready to start batting, had to abandon those plans and sprint back on to the park. As the TV camera panned to the Australian dressing room, Smith was clearly caught mouthing the ‘f***ing cheat’ remark. How, sitting some 70 yards away, he had read Vijay’s mind – that the Indian opener knew he had not taken the catch fairly but had yet claimed it – only Smith can reveal, because he obviously knew that Vijay was cheating. While he himself had not been in Bangalore. Oh how the penny drops sometimes.
Having fielded enough times in the slips, and taken some stunning catches including two on Monday, Smith should know better than to level allegations he cannot substantiate when it comes to catching. The low catch is, anyone who has played even a reasonable level of cricket knows, the most difficult to not just hold but also the one where sometimes you don’t realise that you might have caught the ball on the bounce, especially if the ball has bounced extremely close to the hand. The two-dimensional images seemed to indicate that the ball might have bounced before Vijay caught it. To give it the cheat slant that Smith did reflected extremely poor on the Australian captain who probably thinks only he is entitled to take offence to his integrity being questioned, but that it should not apply to the others when he is making such ludicrous claims.
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