Sourav Ganguly calls for action against Steve Smith for his DRS tactics
New Delhi: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly slammed Steve Smith for his dubious tactics with the DRS review, calling for the International Cricket Council to take actions against the Australia captain.
Smith came under heavy criticism after he was caught looking towards the dressing room for help with a DRS referral after he was trapped lbw by Umesh Yadav.
On seeing this, India skipper Virat Kohli and top order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara immediately pointed it out to the umpires, who rushed in to intervene.
Sourav Ganguly believes that Smith should be apprehended for breaching the DRS rules.
"Action must be taken according to rules and laws of the game. If it's a ban it should be a ban because if the umpires themselves saw Smith infringing on DRS rules then they must report and take action,” Ganguly told Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. “The umpires and Match referee must ensure this doesn't happen in future."
The second match of the four-game Test series turned out to be a feisty contest between the two sides, and much of the tension boiled over on the playing field, with a number of players being involved in a war of words.
Kohli was in the thick of it all, as he had a few heated exchanges with his opposite number Smith and Matt Renshaw. Ravichandran Ashwin was also involved in a couple of heated exchanges with the likes of Renshaw and Nathan Lyon.
Ganguly defended the sledging contest between the players, saying that the Aussies, who are known for sledging, cannot handle it, when their opposition sledge back at them.
"When they sledge they think it's okay but if you sledge back they call it disrespect,” quizzed Ganguly.
The former India captain also went on to allege that the Aussies send members of their support staff to the stands to give different signals to the players during the match.
“I have seen Australian coaches sending their men to sit in the stands and at times instructing or giving signal to their players what to do on field! That's why we started retaliating,” he said.
"Remember Sydney Test (2008), when we lost the Test due to bad umpiring by Steve Bucknor and how Australian fielders claimed wrong decisions. I was given out off a bump catch in the slips because the fielder claimed it and in those days you had to go with the word of the fielders," said Ganguly.
