Vikram Rathour comment gives a different twist to ‘pitch scuffing’ issue.
Key sentence:
- The latest comment by India batting coach Vikram Rathour has given a new twist to the current ‘pitch scuffing’ row.
- Rathour said that the Indian team was not even aware of this situation, and Pant’s batting wasn’t really affected in any way.
- Smith was supposedly surprised and disheartened to see the response attracted by the scuffing up the incident.
The latest comment by India batting coach Vikram Rathour has given a new twist to the current ‘pitch scuffing’ row. Rathour disclosed during a pre-match presser on Thursday that wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant was not even informed of Steve Smith’s action at the batting crease on Monday during the last day of the third test.
The Smith scuffing video:
On day five of the third Test among India vs Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Smith has been seen scuffing the area near the batting crease. This led to many questions being answered about the gamesmanship of the Aussie batsman on social networks.
Vikram Rathour on Smiths scuffing batting area:
Rathour said that the Indian team was not even aware of this situation, and Pant’s batting wasn’t really affected in any way. The match saw Pant becoming the youngest wicket-keeper in the fourth inning of a Test match throughout Australia to score fifty-plus runs.
“We didn’t actually realize, basically, about the case. Only after the game did we know when the media picked this up. Rishabh Pant wasn’t even conscious, as a batsman. As it hardly matters, I wouldn’t want to comment,” Rathour says a day before the final test.
Smith about that incident to the Daily Telegraph:
Smith was supposedly surprised and disheartened to see the response attracted by the scuffing up the incident. I was very surprised and disappointed by the answer to this. That’s something I do in matches to visualize where we are bowling, how the batter is playing our bowlers as well as then out of habit I still mark centre,” Smith had informed the Daily Telegraph.
Australian Captain says in support of Smith during Virtual press conference:
Australia Test captain Tim Paine supported Smith on Tuesday, claiming that the batsman was practising shadow and he certainly was not trying to change Pant’s guard towards India on the final day of the Test match.
“I talked about it to Steve. He’s very disappointed with the way he got through it. Paine said in a virtual press briefing that if you watch Steve Smith playing test cricket, that’s something he does every single match five or six times a day.
“He’s a tonne doing this. He is still batting in the batting crease. He has several Steve Smith quirks, as we know. One of them would be that he’s always been the focus of marking. Surely he wasn’t adjusting Pant’s guard.
