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Steve Smith Does A Billy Bowden; Acts Like An Umpire After Rohit Sharma's Wicket

Aakash Saini

Steve Smith Signalling Out For Rohit's dismissal [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com]Steve Smith Signalling Out For Rohit's dismissal [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x.com]

Team India landed in all sorts of trouble against the new pink ball at the Adelaide Oval on Day 1 of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match. Losing Perth centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal for a first ball duck to a searing Mitchell Starc, the visitors also lost well-set KL Rahul and Shubman Gill after the duo made 37 and 31 runs respectively.

Batting heavyweight Virat Kohli departed for just seven while comeback man and national captain Rohit Sharma was trapped in front of stumps by Scott Boland. As it turned out, an interesting incident unfolded mere moments after Sharma’s apparent dismissal, with Australian cricketer Steve Smith accidentally drawing parallel to Ricky Ponting’s unwanted gesture from early-2008.

Steve Smith gestures ‘Out’ to Rohit Sharma

Batting at number six, Indian captain Rohit Sharma arrived to the crease following the dismissal of well-set Shubman Gill at 81-4. While Sharma fought off the pink ball threat for 23 deliveries, he was eventually trapped in front of stumps by Australian fast bowler Scott Boland at 87-5.

Upon being adjudged LBW by the umpire, the Indian skipper had a long chat with partner Rishabh Pant before walking out. During their brief discussion, Australian cricketer Steve Smith gestured ‘out’ in front of a departing Rohit Sharma, thus drawing parallel with Ricky Ponting from the SCG Test of 2008.

Ricky Ponting’s gesture occurred under controversial circumstances, as he had indicated ‘out’ to then Indian middle-order batter Sourav Ganguly after he had nicked one towards slip fielder Michael Clarke. However, television replays indicated that the ball had grassed before the catch, but Ponting’s word prompted the on-field umpire to adjudge Ganguly out.

Nonetheless, Team India lost five of their top six batters at the Adelaide Oval before reaching 100 runs on Day 1. For Australia, Mitchell Starc took the key wickets of KL Rahul as well as that of Perth centurions Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. Scott Boland, meanwhile, caught Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma plumb in front to wreck India’s star-studded top-order.