I Like To Try And Annoy India A Little Bit With My Mannerisms, Says Steve Smith

It seems like Steve Smith had enjoyed the altercations with the Indian players during the heated Border-Gavaskar series earlier this year. One of the most closely-fought series in recent times, the four-match series was marred with controversies. Sledging and banters have always been a indispensable part of the Indo-Australian rivalry and this year’s series was not an exception either.

The series of unwanted events started probably after Smith, during the Bangalore Test, was caught red-handed attempting to seek inputs from his dressing-room over a DRS call. The Aussie star had stated that it was a “brain fade” but the damage had been already done. The infamous incident was followed by several incidents and Smith has said he enjoyed his time out on the field, getting under the skin of the Indian players.

“I like to try and annoy them a little bit with some of my mannerisms rather than anything I say,” Smith said on the Back Page Live panel show.

The right-handed batsman was hilariously mocked by Ishant Sharma in the Bangalore Test and he had retaliated by just shaking his head sideways in an animated fashion.

“I think I got under (the Indian team’s) skin on a few occasions, which was nice,” Smith said. “It was a pretty heated series, playing over there in India. But it was a great series. We probably should have gone a little bit better than we did. But hopefully we can learn a lot from the way we played there and keep moving forward as a team,” he added.

Australia, nevertheless, had given a India a run for their money before losing the series 2-1. In a series where other batsmen including Virat Kohli were struggling to get going, Smith had scored 499 runs at an average of over 71 with the help of 3 centuries.

With the pay dispute still not resolved, the ‘unemployed’  Australian players are out of action for quite some time now. But Smith said the players have been training hard to remain match-fit. The team from Down Under is scheduled to visit Bangladesh later this month but Smith has made it clear that the series will go ahead only after a new Memorandum of Understanding is put on the table.

“All the boys have been training and working incredibly hard and everyone’s fit,” Smith said. “It’s actually been a good little period for us … for the international guys we don’t often get these kinds of breaks so it’s nice to get some strength work in and some fitness in to try and sustain a level for a period of time now.”