Australia Seeking Input From Dressing Room On DRS Referrals Unacceptable, Says Michael Clarke
Mar 8, 2017 at 11:28 AM
Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke has come down hard on the Australia team after they were accused of seeking dressing room’s assistance for DRS referrals throughout the Bengaluru Test.
The whole episode began when Australia skipper Steven Smith was caught red-handed seeking help from the change-room on a DRS call on the fourth day of the second Test. The right-handed batsman, who was given out after being trapped in front by Umesh Yadav, considered a review, discussing the subject with his partner Peter Handscomb before the middle-order batsman appeared to suggest his skipper to look towards the dressing room. To everyone’s surprise, Smith did the same before he was caught by umpire Nigel Llong. India captain Virat Kohli also joined the drama and had few exchanges with Smith before the Aussie skipper left the field.
“I want to find out from the Australian team if they’re using the DRS in that way, if they are then that is unacceptable,” he told India Today.
“My concern and my worry is that when you look at the footage of what happened with Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb … actually suggests to Steve Smith to turn around and have a look at the support staff.
“If it is only a one-off, I don’t think that would have happened. The fact that Peter Handscomb is even thinking about telling the Australian captain to turn around and look to the support staff, I’ve got my concerns.”
As per the laws of the game, the players can’t receive any support from off the field while deciding whether to review an umpire’s decision. And as expected, Kohli was furious with the incident. In fact, he also said he noticed the visitors doing the same thing on the first two days of the match too before Smith was caught red-handed.
“I saw that two times happening when I was batting out there. I pointed it out to the umpire as well, that it has happened twice, that I’ve seen their players looking upstairs for confirmation, and that’s why the umpire was at him,” Kohli revealed at the post-match conference.
“When he turned back, the umpire knew exactly what was going on, because we observed that, we told match referee also, and the umpires, that they’ve been doing that for the last three days and this has to stop.”
Meanwhile, the four-match series is now levelled at 1-1 after India registering a 75-run victory at Bengaluru. The third Test at Ranchi begins from March 16.