After Australian batsman Steve Smith was criticised for scuffing up the guard mark of Rishabh Pant during the drawn third Test in Sydney, skipper Tim Paine on Tuesday defended him, saying that the Indian team would have taken up the issue if any wrong was committed, PTI reports. 

During drinks break in the first session of the third Test match on Sunday, former Australian captain, Smith was seen scuffing up the batsman guard. In the test match, Pant made 97 runs, giving India a shot at winning in the pursuit of 407, although, the match ended in a draw. 

In a virtual press conference, Paine said, “I have spoken to Steve about this and I know he is really disappointed with the way it has come across. And if you watch Steve Smith play Test cricket, that is something that he does every single game five or six times a day.”

Steve is “always standing in the batting crease, shadow batting”, Paine said adding, “We know he has got those sort of many Steve Smith quirks, so one of them is he is always marking sand.”

Smith was “certainly not” changing the guard marks, Paine said, adding that if he was, “Indian team would have kicked up a bit of stink (at) that time.” 

Defending his scuffing up the guards, Paine further explained that when Steve is in the field, he likes to sort of “walk up to where he bats and visualise how is he going to play.” 

He said if this is how his scuffing up the guards would have been perceived, by people, especially the cricket fans, there would have been reconsideration. 

“…There is no way in the world, he was trying to change Rishabh Pant’s guard or anything like that. That is just one of Smithy’s thing that he does, now that it has come up like it is, again it is something he might need to look at because of the perception of it,” Paine said.

After the video emerged, Smith faced criticism on social media by fans and former India opener Virender Sehwag.

Paine said, “One of his mannerisms, as I said he does a lot, he was marking sand and he wasn’t by any stretch of imagination trying to change guard or do anything like that.”