Steve Smith deprives Virat Kohli of a deserving six by a 'six saving special' at boundary

Steve Smith might not have converted his good start into an impactful knock with the bat but he did showcase a live-wire performance on the field during the third T20I at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday. He showed great athleticism in order to save some precious runs for his side.

'Six saving special'

This had happened in the 13th over of the Indian run chase that was bowled by Mitchell Swepson. On the fourth delivery, the leggie had bowled a straighter one as the Indian skipper Virat Kohli advanced down the track to hit him into the stand. The ball was timed beautifully from the middle of the bat and at one point, it seemed as if the batting megastar would get the desired result. However, it was not to be as Steven Smith who was stationed at the long-on boundary timed his jumped to perfection and pushed the ball back just in time mid-air before it cleared the boundary and thereby, ended up saving a six. 

The batsman had already taken two but Smith's outstanding effort saved four vital runs for the Aussies. The video of this stunning piece of work at the boundary was posted by Cricket Australia on their official Twitter handle and it was captioned as 'That's a six-saving special from Smith!'

READ: Virat Kohli Deposits Daniel Sams Into The 'Sydney Night Sky' During The Indian Chase

Australia manage a consolation win

Chasing a challenging target of 187, India had lost the big wicket of KL Rahul without troubling the scorers after which Virat and Shikhar Dhawan carried out the rescue act with a 74-run second-wicket stand before the latter was dismissed for a quickfire 28.
The Indian captain played a few delightful strokes by hitting the Australian bowlers to all parts of the ground. When the visitors had lost their top-order with just 100 runs on the board, it was the captain who led the team from the front and kept them in the hunt in this challenging run chase.

However, with the asking rate getting steeper, the batting megastar had to play big shots regularly and in the end perished just 15 runs short of what would have been his maiden ton in the shortest format. His stay at the crease was cut short courtesy of a brilliant catch from Sams himself at deep point off Andrew Tye in the penultimate over.

The number three batsman walked back for a brilliant 61-ball 85 at a strike rate of 139.34 including four boundaries and three maximums. Kohli's wicket proved to be the turning point as the lower order could not offer much resistance and the visitors were restricted to 174/7 in their 20 overs.

The Aussies managed to salvage pride by as they won the dead-rubber contest by 12 runs.

READ: Virat Kohli Hands Over T20I Trophy To Series Debutant Natarajan, Netizens Left Awestruck