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The Australia National Cricket Team is up against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team at the MCG 2 in Darwin for the first of the two-match Test series. During the match in the first innings of the hosts, Steve Smith, the side’s best batter for the innings, was lucky enough to survive during the opening session of the first Day.
Bangladesh had a dominant start to the first Test match as they bowled out the home side for 198 runs and are batting at 96/1 at the end of day one. This is a bright start for the subcontinent side, who have performed well in recent times under the leadership of Najmul Hossain Shanto. The visitors will look to set up a big total.
Why was Steve Smith not out?
Steve Smith, who was batting with the score at 74/4, faced the 21st over from Bangladesh pacer Ebadot Hossain. The former Australia captain edged one to the keeper on the fourth ball, and all the fielders appealed as the ball went through to the keeper. The Bangladesh team was sure that the ball had nicked before it went to the keeper.
Sri Lanka umpire Kumar Dharmasena did not raise his finger, and Najmul Hossain Shanto sought a review. As the review got started, Smith appeared to start walking away, implying that he believed he had stolen it. However, the UltraEdge indicated no spike; therefore, the initial not-out decision stood.
"I think so, yeah"- Steve Smith on if he nicked the ball
Now, after the end of the day’s play, Steve Smith appeared at the post-match press conference and shared his insights about the incident. The former Aussie captain admitted in the press conference that he nicked the ball and later on also stated that he was unsure of it even though he felt that he had something on the bat, and he thanked the technology to save him.
"Did you nick that?"
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 13, 2026
"I think so, yeah."
Watch Steve Smith's full press conference after day one of #AUSvBAN: https://t.co/UPFVhNe5II pic.twitter.com/hzoOHz4xVR
Steve Smith said, "I think so, yeah. I was lucky. Yeah, it seems that way, yeah. You've got to take it sometimes. Normally it's pretty good. Yeah, maybe I didn't nick it, I don't know. But I certainly felt something. If I'd been given out, I was going to walk off. But, yeah, technology saved me today, I guess."
Bangladesh pacers dominate Day 1
Australia would have been in deep trouble as they would have lost their fifth wicket for 74 runs, and Smith was on a score of 7 off 25 deliveries. After surviving the review, he went on to score 71 runs off 109 deliveries, smashing 7 fours and one six in his fighting innings; he was the only batter to have crossed the 30-run mark.
Australia had a good start after winning the toss; for the first wicket, they had stitched a 45-run opening partnership. But after that, they had a collapse as they kept on losing wickets; as the middle order crumbled, they lost 5 wickets in the span of 84 runs, with Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud picking up a 6-fer in the first innings.
Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed finished with two wickets each in the match. Bangladesh, while batting, has lost one wicket with Mominul Haque and Tanzid Hasan at the crease with scores of 35 and 32 runs respectively.
