Published 19:25 IST, January 13th 2021
Michael Vaughan expects Steve Smith to play by the rules in the series-decider at Brisbane
Michael Vaughan has said he would be interested to see if Steve Smith repeats his SCG act of scuffling up the batting crease in the decider at the Gabba
Former English skipper Michael Vaughan has said that he would be interested to see if Steve Smith repeats his SCG act of scuffling up the batting crease in the series-deciding fourth and final Test at the Gabba, Brisbane that gets underway on Friday.
Australia's number three batsman was caught on stump camera while scratching up Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's guard during the drinks break in the first session of play on Day 5 of the third Test match. After the incident came to light, several reactions poured in as fans, as well as, former cricketers slammed Smith for his antics.
'Laws are the laws': Michael Vaughan
It so happened that Vaughan was one of the cricket pundits to criticise Steven Smith on Monday i.e. when the final day's play was in progress by saying that it was 'very very poor' from the second-ranked Test batsman.
Two days later, Smith's countryman and former opening batsman Mark Waugh came forward and reckoned that the Englishman is behaving very strangely and backed the 2015 World Cup winner by saying that he would be more worried about deliberate time-wasting in the modern game.
As soon as this came to the ex-middle-order batsman's notice, he made it crystal clear to Waugh junior that he had not read the tweet properly in which it has been mentioned that it was 'silly' and not 'cheating' before adding that 'the laws are the laws'.
Vaughan then said that he hoped to see whether the New South Wales cricketer continues to do the same in Brisbane if he does it all the time.
Why did Smith have to face 'Cheating' accusations?
Steven Smith was accused of resorting to a cheap tactic in their quest to secure a win and take a 2-1 lead in the series when he was caught on stump camera while scratching up Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant's guard during the drinks break in the first session.
The southpaw was taking Australian bowlers to the cleaners and was successfully able to pile the pressure back on them which is why the Australian tried to distract the Indian stumper.
Pant had to mark his guard all over again after resuming batting post the drinks break. The video of the same went viral on social media in no time. Fans, as well as, former cricketers were left fuming after Smith used what is widely being considered as a cheap trick to put off Pant.
Updated 19:25 IST, January 13th 2021