Australia were given a thumping defeat by the Sri Lankans in the second Test. The hosts won the match by an innings and 39 runs after making a humongous 554 in the first innings.
Dinesh Chandimal came up with his first double-hundred on a spinning track to take his team to a massive total. Australia had no answer for the spin and were sent packing at just 151 in the second innings.
While this defeat is certainly a great talking point, another decision that has left Twitter users stumped is Steve Smith's review. The incident took place in the 19th over in the second Australian batting innings. The Sri Lankan spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was bowling to Smith when a ball just skidded in the wicket-line and beat Smith’s defence to hit his pad.
The umpire understandably gave it an out with Sri Lankan players celebrating around. This was when 33-year-old went up for the DRS review, despite the ball hitting at the middle of his pads and stumps.
Seeing the bad call of the Sydney-born batter to take the review with many batters yet to come, Twitter came down hard on the Aussie batter. Fans called his review ‘selfish’, ‘self-obsessed’ and other such adjectives.
Earlier in the Sri Lankan innings, Dinesh Chandimal was caught behind but the umpire did not give the decision. Australia at this point had used all their reviews and could not take any more DRS. Chandimal went on to make 204 runs and Australia were visibly frustrated with the bad usage of DRS.
"Mistakes were made" #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/nuH3vcS6tH
— Daniel Brettig 🏏 (@danbrettig) July 11, 2022
I’ve defended Steve Smith whilst others haven’t, but that’s an incredibly selfish review.
— Andy (@Suburbia3121) July 11, 2022
I’ve defended Steve Smith whilst others haven’t, but that’s an incredibly selfish review.
— Andy (@Suburbia3121) July 11, 2022
Steve Smith should be banned from international cricket for two years after that review,
— Jon “Semi-Fungible Airships” Kudelka (@jonkudelka) July 11, 2022
“1 star ⭐️ Absolutely horrible”
— Dylan Leach (@NedsDylan3Votes) July 11, 2022
- Margaret
“No stars”
-David #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/Kt7EgDAeSX
Whether it’s his outburst after his First Test run out or this, I remain of the view is that Steve Smith should do a Joe Root and not have any leadership responsibilities - he’s so self-obsessed about his batting as to be a great batter but also a poor leader. #SLvAUS https://t.co/Ex62fgXmt1
— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) July 11, 2022
I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews - they happen. But Smith’s one of the worst; totally lacking in broader match awareness with so many batters to follow and fielders around the bat. Here’s the clip. Pick up our @1116sen call via the app - Sri Lanka flying. #SLvAUS https://t.co/BtiQIk4RW7
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) July 11, 2022
With Smith taking another bad review, fans' anger seemed justified. After their loss, the Australian Captain Pat Cummins said, “It might be a reality check that it's tough playing away from home, in different conditions to what we've grown up playing in.”
"We turned up knowing it's a tough place to win. In the last two tours we've learned a heap, we've come a long way in how we've played” added Cummins.