Rohit Sharma comically MOCKS Steve Smith on his face with controversial gesture: WATCH

Former Australian captain Steve Smith was subjected to some fierce criticism after he was caught on stump camera while scratching up Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's guard during final day of  India vs Australia 3rd Test. After incident came to light, several reactions poured in as fans, as well as, former cricketers slammed Smith for his antics. It was expected that controversy could linger even in Brisbane Test.

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India vs Australia live: Rohit Sharma mocks Steve Smith by shadow batting on pitch

And as expected, incident hasn't cooled off yet. During post-lunch session on Day 4 of  India vs Australia 4th Test, Indian vice-captain Rohit Sharma apparently decided to mock Steve Smith by imitating him. Indian opener went to striker’s end and shadow-batted while Smith, who was present in middle, observed him. video of same went viral on social media as fans were left in splits. A certain sections of fans also lauded Rohit for giving Smith a taste of his own medicine.

Here's how Rohit Sharma imitated Steve Smith

Meanwhile, Smith was unfazed by Rohit's mockery as he continued with his innings. premier batsman went on to score 31st fifty of his Test career before he was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj for 55. At time of publishing this article, Australia have scored 196/5 with Cameron Grenn batting on 20 and skipper Tim Paine yet to open his account.  hosts will look to up ante w and set a formidable target for India and give ir bowlers eugh time to bowl out visitors. On or hand, India will want to wrap Australian innings quickly and give mselves a chance to beat hosts at Gabba and hand m ir first loss at venue in 32 years.

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Steve Smith denies cheating allegations, says he was marking centre as he always does

Smith himself opened up on entire incident after massive outcry saying that he was marking centre as he always does. While speaking to News Corp, Smith said that he was shocked and disappointed by allegations made against him stating that he had tried to gain an unfair advant. Smith mentioned that marking centre is something he does in games to visualize where Australian bowlers are bowling, how batsmen are playing ir bowlers and n out of habit he always mark centre. Expressing regret over how incident turned out to be, Smith said that it's a shame that this and or events have taken away from what was a great batting performance by India.

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former Australian captain also got backing of his skipper Tim Paine who defended  31-year old saying that he meant thing malicious to Pant by scraping his guard. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Paine said that he spoke to Smith about incident and added that he is extremely disappointed with how it has come across. Explaining Smith's actions, Paine reckoned that if you've watched Smith play Test cricket, that's something he does every single game, five or six times a day.

Paine furr said that Smith is always standing in batting crease, shadow batting. According to Paine, Smith has got numerous idiosyncrasies and one of m is always marking centre. Pant assured that Smith was certainly t changing guard and added that if he was n Indian players would have complained about same at time.

He reassured that Smith wasn't by any stretch of imagination trying to change guard or do anything like that. Paine also said that if people look back at foot y'll see it happens probably more than once a Test match with him. However, Pine ackwledged that w that re has been a fuss about it, it's something Smith might have to look at because of perception of it.

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SOURCE: TWITTER