The last time Australia was in India, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith had formed a bitter rivalry. Virat Kohli had only fallen short of calling his Australian counterpart a cheater. Steve Smith’s brain fade episode had made headlines and the series turned out to be one of the most ‘toxic’ ever, as Harsha Bhogle put it. With so much at stake between the two champion sides, fans would expect nothing short of a high-octane series. And going by how it has started, it seems more verbal duels and moments are in store. India won the first One-Day International by 26 runs. Even though Kohli experienced a rare failure when he was dismissed for a duck and the match was truncated by rain, the fans had got their fill.
There was an instance during the match when Steve Smith took a review and it didn’t go his way. The episode occurred in the 45th over when Marcus Stoinis’ delivery hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s pad but prior to it, the ball had made a good contact with the bat, which was evident with the naked eye. As expected, the on-field umpire gave the decision in the Indian player’s favour.
A desperate Smith opted for DRS, but the third umpire did not overrule the first umpire and the decision stood as it was. Once the decision came through, Virat Kohli mocked Smith from the dressing room, raising his index finger indicating out, in a bid to tease his counterpart.
Here is the video of the event:
— Rohit (@rohitpandeyee) September 17, 2017
Earlier in the day, India, who were in trouble at 87 for 5, managed to put on a decent 281 runs for Australia to chase. As it began to rain and the match was reduced to 21 overs, Australia needed 164 runs by DLS method. Australia, however, was foxed by the spinners and they lost the match by 26 runs.
