India achieved one of their most momentous Test Series wins against Australia when it defeated them by a margin of 2-1 at home in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2017. The series, as in regular fiery India vs Australia affairs, was full of controversial moments, none greater than what happened in the second Test involving Steve Smith and a controversial DRS call. Cheteshwar Pujara, who was part of the Indian team during this Test match, has now shed light on the incident.
In the Bengaluru Test, Steve Smith was given out after he was struck LBW by Umesh Yadav as they were chasing 188 in the fourth innings. However, instead of walking off or consulting Peter Handscomb at the non-striker’s end for a review, Smith looked straight towards the Australian dressing room, asking for advice.
This prompted captain Virat Kohli and the Indian players to object to the umpire. The on-field umpires intervened and refused to give Smith a review as the stipulated time had passed. The Australian captain then eventually admitted his actions were a “brain fade”.
This prompted India and Virat Kohli to accuse Australia of using unfair methods. Cheteshwar Pujara, in a conversation with Aakash Chopra, 9 years after this incident, said that Australia used the live feed on a television in their dressing room to see the replays of the incident and use it to take DRS decisions.
“Every time you looked at their DRS decisions, they were spot on. They knew whether they had to take it or not. Until then, none of us Indian players was aware that Australia had a live feed in their dressing room,” Pujara said.
“Normally, the dressing-room feed is delayed, but they had a live feed ready. So, they used to sneak a look towards the dressing room so that nobody would catch them, and then make the call on whether to take the DRS or not,” the former India batter added.
“It was unfair in a way. You are searching for the loophole. If this was done by any other team, they would’ve objected. But they had no problem doing it themselves,” he further added.
‘Australia were desperate to win a series in India’
Cheteshwar Pujara said that a lot happened in the series against India in 2017, as Australia were desperate to win a series in India, and they were the first team since England in 2012 to give them a scare.
“A lot happened during the series. They were desperate to win a series in India. Credit to them, though; they came prepared. They were the first team since England in 2012 to give us a scare that we could lose to Australia at home. Prior to that, they weren’t even able to compete as much. They had players for it. But on the field, a lot happened, and a lot of them I cannot talk about, which I feel shouldn’t have happened. These things tend to become a little personal,” Pujara said.
In fact, Pujara admitted that he too sledged a lot during the series, given the intensity.
“I too sledged. We checked if the camera is on us or not, or if the stump mic is not catching anything. But you do not want to be in that situation. You do that when the opponent is sledging a lot; then you go into that space where I am not going to hold back now. Ultimately, the purpose is to pick a wicket, but a lot of the time you end up making personal comments, which you are not proud of,” he further added.
