Australia’s star batter Steve Smith has claimed that his hands were firmly underneath the ball despite the third umpire ruling Virat Kohli not out on day one of the fifth Test in Sydney. At the same time, the 35-year-old said that Australia have moved on and said they won’t dispute the third umpire’s decision.
The incident occurred in the eighth over of the innings when Scott Boland came on to bowl his first. Having nipped out Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Victorian had his tails up and drew the edge of Kohli’s bat. Smith did outstandingly merely to get the ball, which was dying on him and flicked to Marnus Labuschagne at gully as the latter completed the catch. With the on-field umpire sending it upstairs, the third umpire concluded that the ball had touched a shade of grass even as it was in Smith’s hands, ruling it not out.
Speaking to Isa Guha on Fox Cricket before heading to lunch, the 35-year-old said when asked about the contentious call:
“100%. No denying it whatsoever, 100%. But the umpire has made the decision. We’ll move on.”
