Alex Carey reacts to Allan Border calling out Steve Smith's 'ridiculous' act in 1st Test

Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey has responded to the legendary Allan Border’s cryptic remarks about Steve Smith for his hand gestures during India vs Australia, first Test match in Nagpur. Speaking on Fox Cricket, after Australia’s loss by innings and 132 runs in Nagpur, Border suggested the Aussie side lacked aggression and criticized Smith for his ‘thumbs up’ gesture while batting for Ravindra Jadeja. The former Aussie skipper was seen giving thumbs up whenever he faced a good ball.

As per The Sydney Morning Herald, reacting to Border’s comments, Carey said, “We highly respect Allan Border. I guess among the group, guys do it differently. We come up against these players a lot. You're probably alluding to the Steve Smith comment more than any but, you know, he's mates with a lot of them”.

“They're obviously strong comments”

“And that's the way he [Smith] plays. He does it in all situations. He plays around with his hands and does all that stuff. And I think that's probably what gets him pretty focused. They're obviously strong comments but, as a group, we believe in what we're doing and come the second Test we're ready to put a few learnings into place,” Carey further explained. 

What did Allan Border say about Steve Smith?

As reported earlier, speaking on Fox Sports, Donald expressed disappointment with Smith and said, “What the hell is going on? That is just ridiculous. Don’t go stupid, but Australia play hard nose cricket. We’re even giving someone thumbs up … bloody hell. There’s so many scars there now, it’s going to be a tough few days. You can talk the talk, but ultimately the boys with the bat in hand and ball in hand have got to do the job”.

“It’s going to be hard to find a way, but they’ve just got to do it. A big, soul-searching dressing room drink-a-thon tonight, just to try to thrash something out. That’s as bad as we can play, there’s only one way to go from here,” he added. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been partly named after the former Australian captain Allan Border, who is revered figure in Australian cricket. 

It is pertinent to mention that Australia was dominated by the Indian spin bowlers during the Nagpur Test. Ravindra Jadeja took a fifer in the first innings of the match, while R Ashwin took a three-wicket haul. In the third innings, Ashwin registered a five-for, whereas Jadeja notched up three wickets, bowling out the Aussies on 91 runs.