The Virat Kohli-Steve Smith clash on the controversial DRS (Decision Review System) call on Wednesday triggered a full blown verbal war between the Cricket Boards of India and Australia before the ICC ruled out action against the two captains as charges were not laid.
A day after India captain Kohli lambasted the Australian team and just about stopped short of calling Smith a cheat, the two Boards waded into the controversy by coming out with statements backing their respective captains.
Earlier in the day, BCCI issued a statement that it has “requested the ICC to take cognizance of the fact that the Australian skipper Steve Smith in his press conference admitted to a ‘brain fade’ at that moment.” BCCI sought ICC intervention without filing an official complaint with the world governing body. ICC CEO David Richardson said they would encourage both teams to focus their energies on the third Test in Ranchi.
The drama was triggered by Smith getting caught by umpires while glancing at the dressing room before taking a DRS call during the second Test, which ended in India’s favour on Tuesday.
Smith tried to play down the controversy by calling it a “brain fade” but that did not stop the barrage of criticism that came his way for his on-field actions.
However, he got the backing of his Board with Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland rejecting allegations questioning Smith’s integrity.
“I find the allegations questioning the integrity of Steve Smith, the Australian Team and the dressing room, outrageous,” Sutherland was quoted in a statement.
“Steve is an outstanding cricketer and person, and role model to many aspiring cricketers and we have every faith that there was no ill-intent in his actions. We reject any commentary that suggests our integrity was brought into disrepute or that systemic unfair tactics are used, and stand by Steve and the Australian Cricketers who are proudly representing our country,” he added.
Amid the drama, batsman Peter Handscomb sought to take the blame for the contentious call on himself, claiming that it was he who asked Smith to seek a clue from dressing room after being adjudged leg-before off Umesh Yadav.
“I referred smudga to look at the box... My fault and was unaware of the rule. Shouldn’t take anything away from what was an amazing game!,” Handscomb wrote on his official twitter page.
Smith also got the backing of coach Darren lehmann, who echoed the sentiment expressed by CA. lehmann said Kohli’s allegation of repeated dressing room referrals by Australian players was merely his personal opinion.
“Never, ever, ever. Very surprised to hear that, but it’s their opinion,” said lehmann.
“He (Kohli) has his opinion and we have ours, but at the end of the day we play the game the right way. We’ve changed the way we want to play, we’ve obviously changed the side and we’re a younger side so I’m pretty pleased with the way we do things now. We’ve never done any of that, so we’ll just get on with the next game,” said the coach further.
In a fiery post-match press conference yesterday, Kohli had stated that he had twice seen Australians seeking help from the dressing room for DRS referrals. lehmann praised his team for not responding aggressively to Kohli’s charge.
“Gone are the days when we used to be probably the other way, and I was part of that as an Australian side. The young guys, the way they want to portray themselves and encourage people to play the game and enjoy the game has been exceptional,” he said. “So I’m really proud of the way they went about it this game, even though we lost.”