Watch: In an amusing by-play on day three of the Ahmedabad Test, Australia captain Steve Smith was abandoned by his teammates despite imploring them to give their inputs for a DRS review of Virat Kohli.
Smith, Australia’s acting captain in the absence of the bereaved Pat Cummins, had a busy day on the field as Shubman Gill led India’s response with a commanding century. After toiling for over 40 overs, the team finally had their second breakthrough when Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed by Todd Murphy. Virat Kohli, who’s been under the pump in Tests, followed next.
With Kohli yet to get off the mark, Murphy managed to sneak a straighter one past his bat. The Australia fielders, including Smith at first slip and wicketkeeper Alex Carey, went up in appeal, with Carey also clipping the bails in the hopes of a stumping chance.
With the DRS countdown on, Smith looked around for support, but all he encountered was clueless faces. He turned from person to person, but got blank expressions from Murphy and Carey. One by one, his teammates deserted him, and Smith just stood in the middle, his hands up in disbelief.
“I love the way Steve Smith goes about it, he’s so animated,” said Murali Kartik on commentary.
“Steve Smith was like: ‘What do you reckon? What do you reckon?’. He’s asking for something from Alex Carey”
“Absolutely no support from his teammates there. He was adamant, he heard a sound” said his co-commentator Mitchell Johnson.
“Just absolute gold, this is brilliant,” said Kartik.
A replay made it clear that it was a fair call not to review, with UltraEdge later confirming that there was no outside edge.
