Steve Smith reveals why he scuffed Rishabh Pant’s guard

Australian batsman Steve Smith yet again headlined the news with a controversy after the end of SCG Test. As per reports he was found cheating. To be precise he was caught scuffing Indian batsman Rishabh Pant’s guard. This created a lot of fuzz in the social media and former players including Virender Sehwag and Michael Vaughan started criticizing Smith for the same. But in a new revelation, a new video is surfacing on the internet where it can be clearly seen that Smith was not cheating and moreover was just shadow batting after the ground staff cleaned the pitch. He too has come up with a reply against the allegations.

Was Steve Smith really cheating?

The incident got public attention when many in social media including former players like Sehwag shared a video of Steve Smith scuffing the Indian batsman Rishabh Pant’s batting guard. By simply looking at that clip, it seemed almost obvious that Smith was doing something nasty. This led to people criticizing him ruthlessly. Some even started calling him cheater by bringing up the old Sand Paper gate incident back onto the discussion.

But to clear the air, a new video clip is now trending on social media. It is a full-length version of video that the likes of Sehwag shared. From that it is clear that, Smith was just shadow batting after the ground staff had cleaned the pitch.

Wow!! Look at this full footage.
At drinks break, Steve Smith changed his shirt to Groundsmen uniform, scuffed it with the regulation equipment,again changed shirt,came to the middle, scuffed the non existent guard. ?
Absolute clowns ?pic.twitter.com/wehAwT0fLR

— The Red Cherry ? (@Redcherrytweets) January 12, 2021

His captain Tim Paine backed him after this issue became a big controversy.

“I have spoken to Steve about it,” Paine told reporters. “He is really disappointed with the way it has come across. If you watch Steve Smith play Test cricket that is something, he does every single game five or six times a day. He does this a lot.

“He is always in the batting crease batting. As we know he has those many Steve Smith quirks. One of them is that he was always marking centre. He was certainly not changing (Pant’s) guard,” added Tim Paine in the Press Conference.

Smith clarifies that he is not guilty

Like any other person who is dragged on to controversy, this incident disappointed Smith and he openly voiced his displeasure in the way that some of the people including the former players twisted the tale to make it a trending news story.

“I have been quite shocked and disappointed by the reaction to this,” Steve Smith told the Daily Telegraph.

“It’s something I do in games to visualise where we are bowling, how the batter is playing our bowlers and then out of habit I always mark centre,” he added.

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