Smith ‘rubbishes’ Kohli claim, seeks to ask questions
Australia captain Steve Smith rubbished India captain Virat Kohli’s claims that they consistently take help from the dressing room while reviewing decisions. Despite claiming to move on from the Bangalore controversy, Kohli has clearly not budged from his stand that Australia had misused DRS protocols. “It was an error on my behalf. I had a brain fade. In regards to saying we do it consistently is complete rubbish in my opinion. So I think he was wrong in his statement,” said Smith in the pre-match press conference ahead of the third Test here on Wednesday.
The Indian and Australian cricket boards had issued a joint statement after the Bangalore Test, pledging to bury the hatchet over the DRS controversy and move ahead. In reality though, there is an unwillingness to let normalcy prevail, prompted mostly by the questions coming from the Australian media.
Both captains are scheduled to meet in front of ICC match referee Richie Richardson before the Test starts on Thursday. When asked what Smith intends to do then, he said, “Perhaps I might be able to ask a few questions. We will see what the mood’s like at the time. Virat obviously stuck by his comments. From my point of view I think they are completely wrong. I obviously came out after the game and said I made a mistake,” said Smith who insisted he is not carrying any bitterness from the Bangalore Test.
Smith also revealed he had spoken to Richardson and the two umpires on Wednesday. “I spoke to Richardson and other umpires. Basically what they said was that we want to see cricket as the winner in this Test match and both teams to play within the rules.