Steve Smith became the Player of the Match in the Sydney Test against India after he got scores of 131 and 81. He didn’t have the greatest of outings in Adelaide and Melbourne where he scored only 10 runs at an average of 3.33 and got out to Ravi Ashwin two times. However, at the SCG, the 31-year-old put his best foot forward and showed what he is capable of.

But in the final day’s play, Smith got himself tangled in a controversy, which overshadowed his performance with the bat somewhat. In a video doing the rounds on social media, Smith was seen, scuffing the batsman’s crease at the striker’s end and also shadow batting. Rishabh Pant, who scored 97 runs at a strike-rate of above 80, had to mark his guard again.

Smith’s action didn’t go down well with many, including a few experts. Amidst the backlash, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer churned out a hilarious way to troll Smith. The veteran shared a meme from the Bollywood blockbuster ‘Sholay’, featuring the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. The movie released on August 15, 1975.

Here’s the tweet

😉 #AUSvIND https://t.co/x5SDZVtrLI pic.twitter.com/IzALh7bGTr

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 12, 2021

Steve Smith upset

Smith, in the meantime, was upset with all the talks around him. The 31-year-old said he never had intentions of any wrongdoing. Smith also praised Team India for their tireless efforts in the final day when Ravi Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari went on to stay unbeaten.

“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. It’s such a shame that this and other events have taken away from what was a great batting performance by India yesterday,” Smith was quoted as saying to News Corp.

Tim Paine, the Australian skipper, also had Smith’s back, saying that he didn’t do anything wrong. “If you’ve watched Steve Smith play Test cricket, that’s something he does every single game five or six times a day. He’s always standing in the batting crease, shadow batting. As we know, he’s got those many Steve Smith quirks, and one of those is he’s always marking centre,” Paine told.