WATCH | Virat Kohli engages in fun banter with Steve Smith over ‘rubbish shot’ in WTC final

06/10/2023

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Hilarious banter on the field often becomes the talk of the town, but fans go berserk when two of the all-time greats are involved in such incidents. Virat Kohli and Steve Smith had one such moment before Day 4 of the WTC final when the former jokingly trolled Smith for his ‘rubbish shot’ on Day 3.

Highly lauded as arguably the most decorated Test batsman of all time, Steve Smith made his mark in the WTC final against India by hitting a classy 121 at The Oval. His crucial knock, which lasted 268 balls, along with Travis Head’s radical 163, helped Australia to post 469 in the first innings. The former Australian skipper also looked comfortable in the second innings, scoring 34 off 46 deliveries until an uncharismatic wild hack at Ravindra Jadeja led him to lose his wicket.

The moment Smith played the wild shot against Jadeja after dancing down the track, Smith knew he made a mistake before Shardul Thakur completed the catch at mid-off. However, keeping it aside, he was having a conversation with Justin Langer before Day 4’s play, and the former Australian coach, when commentating on air, recalled an incident that left everyone in splits.

When the duo were having a chat, Virat Kohli went on to them out of nowhere. The first thing Kohli said to Smith in the morning was ‘rubbish shot’, albeit it was not in an insulting way. Not to forget, Kohli lauded Smith ahead of the WTC final, calling him ‘the best Test player of this generation’, and therefore, it was nothing else than a fun banter. Langer described the whole incident like that only, saying only because of Kohli’s comments, Smith agreed it was a false shot to play against the delivery which was turning extravagantly.

Here's the whole description of the incident, recalled by Langer on air: