Feud Between Steve Smith & Ajinkya Rahane As Australian Openly Criticises His IPL Skipper

Everything is not looking good between Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane after the last IPL game.

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals in their previous outing without breaking much sweat. The Knight Riders were in cruise control right from the time Dinesh Karthik won the toss till Ben Stoked bowled a wide delivery. The two-time IPL champions thrashed the inaugural winners of the competition by 8 wickets to storm to the top of the points table. Dinesh Karthik’s decision to bowl first was completely justified by his bowlers.

The Knight Riders never allowed the Royals get off the hook as the latter finished their innings on a modest 139 despite losing just three wickets. In reply, the Knight Riders chased down the total with 37 balls remaining to equal their biggest win in terms of balls left.

The game, meanwhile, had several interesting moments and one of them came when Steve Smith was talking to the commentators from the field of play. Smith, who was appointed the Royals skipper last year before the ball-tampering scandal took place, openly expressed his displeasure over captain Ajinkya Rahane’s decision to hand the ball to K Gowtham in just the second over of the run chase.

“The spinner, I thought, just bowled too straight,” said Steve Smith to Simon Doull during the third over of the innings when Jofra Archer was bowling.

Smith’s compatriot Brett Lee then asked him whether he would have preferred attacking Narine with Archer’s pace and bounce instead of Gowtham’s spin.

In reply, Steve Smith said:

“Not sure, that’s a question for Ajinkya [Rahane] I’d say. But he [Narine] sort of comes at it from ball one. I thought the spin over the wicket wasn’t a great move as it was taking the stumps out of play.”

Giving Gowtham the ball was certainly a wrong decision as Narine loves to play against the spinners. The Knight Riders star slammed Gowtham for four boundaries and a six to give his team the perfect start. But while the decision backfired, Smith’s comments were totally uncalled for. Criticising his captain openly during a game more or less shows that Rahane and Smith are yet to hit it off together. It should be remembered that Smith had also taken a dig at BCCI for not allowing him to play the IPL last year and perhaps he is just not happy with the way things have turned after the scandal.