With Australia chasing quick runs and an Indian batting innings looming on Day 4 of the fourth and final Test, Rohit Sharma headed to the crease and began shadow batting at the Gabba. Images show Rohit pretending to bat an imaginary shot as Steve Smith watched at the Gabba in Brisbane with the series locked at 1-1. Cheeky Rohit.. very very cheeky!#AUSvIND #INDvsAUS @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/DJm5jJkcpW — Sridhar_FlashCric (@SridharBhamidi) January 18, 2021 Shadow practice 🤪 as Smith watches. pic.twitter.com/BjXIgqzGdl — Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) January 18, 2021 “It‘s very important for all those who thought Steve Smith was tampering the pitch and he had some kind of malicious intent, Rohit Sharma has done the exact same thing as Steve Smith did,” Indian broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar said on during commentary. “In fact, there’s a step with the right foot.” This comes just days after Steve Smith was criticised for a similar move and was labelled a cheat by fans and former players after marking centre while the Indians were batting. During a break session, Smith was seen purportedly removing Pant’s crease mark. However, video footages showed that the ground staff at SCG had already removed all the crease marks while sweeping the ground. Smith got support from Australia captain Tim Paine and coach Justin Langer though. Wow..full footage of the scuffing controversy. I mean, I won't even take sides, see it and decide for yourselves if your brain allows you obviously. Some people on social media really need to grow up !! pic.twitter.com/kOJSpdI6gp — Don Mateo (@DonMateo_X13) January 12, 2021 “If anyone who knows Steve Smith, he’s a bit quirky and he does some weird (stuff). We’ve all laughed about it… it’s what Steve Smith does at the crease. He does it most games, he’s thinking about batting," Langer had said to the reporters ahead of the Gabba Test. “Anyone who suggests for one millisecond he was doing anything untoward. They are way out of line. Absolutely out of line. That wicket was that flat and it was like concrete. You need 15 inch spikes to make an indent on the crease," he added.
