Sunil Gavaskar slams ICC for taking no action against Steve Smith

Published: 10 March 2017, 02:42 AM
Sunil Gavaskar slams ICC for taking no action against Steve Smith

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar came down heavily on International Cricket Council (ICC) for not taking any action against Australian captain Steve Smith in the Decision Review System (DRS) controversy in the second Test in Bengaluru.

Smith found himself in the middle of a raging controversy when he was seen looking for signals from his dressing room on whether to review his leg-before dismissal during the second innings of the Bengaluru Test.

Smith was given out by the on-field umpire but he was not sure whether to go for the referral or not as Australia had already used one of its reviews when David Warner was adjudged LBW earlier.

Smith later termed it as a `brain fade` moment and admitted to looking towards their dressing room for assistance over whether to ask for a review of the umpire`s decision.

Talking about the incident, Gavaskar told, "It can`t be that some countries get favourable treatment and some countries do not get favourable treatment. Tomorrow, for example, if something similar is done by an Indian player ... he also should not be pulled up at all."

The third Test is scheduled to start on Thursday, March 16 and the former India captain expected consistency from the governing body.

"I would actually love to see Virat Kohli, if he is given out ... and he looks at the Indian dressing room, gets some sort of feedback from them... Let`s see what the match referee and the ICC decide then," Gavaskar went on to add.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia had said the allegations against Smith were "outrageous" and backed their captain while BCCI came out in strong defence of India captain Virat Kohli and the team on the issue.

The ICC decided not to level any charge against either Smith or Kohli, whose public outburst could also have been considered a breach of code of conduct.

Source: NDTV