Steve Smith and Tim Paine
Australian cricketer Steve Smith has hit back ast former Aussie skipper Ian Chappell for his 'white-anting' criticism. Chappell reckons Smith was undermining incumbent team skipper Tim Paine during the recently-concluded day-night Test in Adelaide against Pakistan.
According to the former Aussie player, Smith intervened Paine's fielding set up with his own ideas. His comments came on Monday, hours after Australia secured a commanding win against Pakistan.
“I tell you what I don’t like to see, Steve Smith is moving a few fieldsmen around,” Chappell told Macquarie Sports Radio as quoted by Fox Sports. “He did have a chat with Tim Paine, trying to talk Tim Paine into moving a fielder on the off-side, but I’m not sure Tim Paine moved him as far as Steve Smith wanted. Steve Smith started moving him, I hate to see that. England used to do it a bit, blokes other than the captain and I always felt it was white anting the captain."
Breaking his silence on the issue, the former skipper said that he was only trying and helping Paine with suggestions.
“I only try and help Tim as much as I can,” Smith told 9News as quoted by Daily Mail. “He’s doing a terrific job, but I give him suggestions and things like that. “I only want the team to do well. I’m certainly not undermining him.”
Talking about the match, the win in Adelaide did not just help Australia register their second consecutive whitewash on home turf, they also closed in on the table-toppers India in the ICC World Test Championship points table. They have 176 points from seven matches
