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Australia's batting juggernaut Steve Smith drew flak on social media and was trolled for asking an Indian fan donning a red t-shirt to move from his seat at the Oval on Day 3 of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final against India at the Oval.
Smith struck his 31st Test ton to help Australia post a colossal total of 469 in their first innings and put India under the pump. Smith also became only the second batter after Travis Head to crack a century in the WTC final match. After putting up a sensational show with the bat, Australian bowlers bundled out India for 296 to take a 173-run lead in the match.
Australian openers came out to bat but India needed early breakthroughs. Mohammed Siraj drew first blood to get rid of the dangerous David Warner on the third ball of fourth over. Warner scored just a single. The next man to return to pavilion was Usman Khawaja (13) who fell in Umesh Yadav's trap and edged the ball which travelled straight to Srikar Bharat's gloves.
The next man to walk in the middle was Australia's first innings' hero Smith. Yet again Smith got a good start and played some impressive shots to steady Australia's boat. But a bizarre incident happened on the pitch which drew everyone's attention. Smith was facing Indian pacer Umesh Yadav in the 21st over when he was distracted by a fan who was wearing a red t-shirt and was sitting next to the side screen. The star Australian batter took the onfield umpires into the cognizance and soon the Indian spectator was asked to move from the seat by the security personnel around the ground. The onfield umpires were also spotted requesting the fan to vacate the seat.
However Smith's gesture didn't go down well with the cricket fans as they started trolling the Australia's batting spearhead on social media. One of the Twitter users while taking a dig at Smith said that Ben Stokes is currently ordering 50000 t-shirts from Amazon for the Ashes series.
“What a knob Steve Smith is the guy who has been removed has been sitting there since 10:00am Ben Stokes is currently on Amazon ordering 50000 red T-shirts,” the user wrote on Twitter.
This is how the other fans reacted to Smith's gesture.
Later, in the 31st over Smith returned to pavilion after scoring 34 off 47. Ravindra Jadeja didn't let Australian batters heave a sigh in relief, not even for a moment, and dismissed the first innings' centurions Steve Smith and Travis Head (18).
At the close of Day 3's play, Australia's scoreboard read 123/4 with a 296-run lead. Labuschagne remained unbeaten for 41 off 118 balls whereas Green scored seven runs.
