India’s Test captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday was just short of labeling the Australians cheaters in an explosive press conference after a series-levelling win in Bengaluru.
Things came to a boil between Indian captain Virat Kohli and his Australian counterpart Steve Smith when the visiting skipper tried seeking a clue from the dressing room for a DRS call after his dismissal.
Rules pertaining to the usage of DRS clearly state that ‘signals from dressing room must not be given’. It was the 21st over of the Australian second innings in the second Test here when Smith was trapped LBW by pacer Umesh Yadav.
Smith first turned to the non-striker’s end to seek an opinion and sparks flew when the umpires noticed that the batsman had turned towards the dressing room as well.
Virat Kohli, however, was far less dismissive of the event. He said that he knew of at least two other instances when the Australians sought help from those in the dressing room in the last three days.
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He added that he had mentioned it to the on-field umpires about the same and that was perhaps one of the reasons the umpire Nigel Llong was able to spot Smith asking for help from upstairs.
When asked if he was saying the Australians were cheating, Kohli said ‘I did not use that word, you did’.
As it happened: India win Bengaluru Test by 75 runs, Aus lose final 6 wickets for 11 runs