Australia’s coach, Justin Langer, and captain, Tim Paine, have defended Steve Smith after he was accused of deliberately scuffing away the guard of the India batsman Rishabh Pant on a climactic final day of the third Test between the teams. “I literally cannot believe some of the rubbish I read about Steve Smith,” Langer said. “Absolute load of rubbish; if anyone knows Steve Smith, he’s a bit quirky and he does some weird things and we’ve all laughed about it for the last couple of years. “That was absolutely ludicrous, and in the last couple of years since he’s been back, he’s been exemplary on and off the field. “I said to our players: ‘I’ve had a really poor game as a leader.’ I let our group down.

Source: The Guardian January 12, 2021 16:00 UTC