While chasing South Africa’s 311 on the newish surface in Lucknow, Australia lost both openers. Classy right hander came to the crease with an attacking intent and looked in good nick, but he remained very unfortunate with the way the ball tracked and crashed into the middle of his leg stump.
Steven Smith came to the crease after the dismissal of Mitchell Marsh. He was on song and looked in rhythm the way he started his inning. He was facing Rabada; he played one down to a fine leg for a boundary and played a cracking cover drive through the cover region for four.
On the very next delivery, after hitting consecutive beautiful-looking shorts, he missed a glance at the length delivery by Rabada that crashed on his pad. Initially, South Africa did not appeal for LBW because it looked a bit high and was sliding down the leg as well.
Suddenly, the proteas tested their luck and took the review. Smith was confident about the ball going down the leg; even the fielding team wasn’t sure, but Smith was given out, and everyone was surprised, and their reactions were really shocking, even the fielding team as well.
Why Steven Smith was puzzled when he was given out
When the ball hit his pad, the umpire also gave him not out because there was bounce on the pitch, unlike typical Indian wickets. The classy right-hander was in the air while playing the ball, and the ball also hit above the knee roll, which means the leather must have gone up the wickets for sure. The second thing was pitched on the leg stump line, going down with the angle.
When the 3rd umpire displayed the ball tracker, it showed the ball crashing right in the middle of the leg stump even after hitting above the knee roll and being played a few inches in the air. The third umpire had to reverse his decision, and this mistake cost Australia a big downfall of 134 runs against proteas.
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