Snapshots: Not so ethical, Mr Smith

Nair's stump cracks into two

Get your eye in? Not on my watch, asserts Mitch Starc.

The first ball of a batsman's innings can be a challenging task as it is, but when you're facing up to Mitchell Starc, the task goes up several notches. Karun Nair found that out in the most brutal way, as the left-armer had him out bowled with a stunning delivery.

India had batted themselves into a decent position when Starc got Australia their breakthrough by getting rid of Ajinkya Rahane. The wicket pumped Starc up. Karun Nair had no idea what he was getting himself into as he strode out to a generous reception.

Starc let rip one of the fastest deliveries of the match, an in-swinging 154KMPH monster that swung in late. Nair went for the booming drive, but the late swing and the searing pace left him with no time to adjust. The ball took the inside edge and took out both the leg and middle stumps. The leg stump was shattered into two - the bottom half still rooted to its spot, while the top half went flying across the pitch. It was a sight to behold.

Wriddhiman Saha walked in next, and Steve Smith cheekily rolled the broken stump in his path. It was a reminder of what was to come. Blink and you might find your stump broken in half.

Spidey's dosed off

India's have already endured a tough tryst with technology in this series, with most of the DRS calls not going their way. To boot, Spider-Cam, which presents the watchers with a moving, aerial view, left them waiting in frustrating.

At the end of every ball, the Spider-Cam has to move into a high position just behind the batsman. This is to try and minimalise the chances of the ball hitting the camera. Just before Ishant came into bowl the side's fifth over, Spider-Cam hovered just to the right of Matt Renshaw, the batsman, and refused to budge.

Nigel Llong waved to the operators and asked them to lift the camera upwards, to no avail. Matt Renshaw tried to reach out with his bat and give it a tap, too, but that didn't work either. Virat Kohli finally walked up and waved to the camera, but there was no use. It was clear that the camera or the camera person had dozed off. It suddenly jerked to life and made a slow climb upwards.

The break, as it turned out, helped India as Renshaw fell three balls later. Lapse in concentration or just pure coinincidence, only Renshaw can tell, but Spidey-Cam had cast its web over the match.

Smith forgets the rules

As India went for the juggular in their attempt to claw back into the series, things went a little out of control in the middle. Steve Smith shouldered most of the responsibiliy for the unnecessary melee in the middle.

It all started with Umesh Yadav trapping the Australian captain plumb in front with a ball that kept extremely low. Being the key batsman he is, Smith was eager to know if he could take the review and if he had any chance at all. He walked up to Peter Handscomb, the non-striker, to get a second opinion. Handscomb, however, motioned towards the dressing room instead of offering his opinion.

Smith turned around and asked his team what they felt. That left the Indians amazed. Virat Kohli immediately walked towards the Australian duo with arms stretched wide and some words to offer, no doubt. Cheteshwar Pujara joined him, too. But before things got out of hand, umpire Nigel Llong diffused the situation by telling Smith he was out of bounds and that he should walk back to the pavillion.

Smith did something stupid and unethical, but with the intensity of the match so high, it is perhaps a tad unsurprising that he did what he did without thinking too much. Kapil Dev, sitting alongside journalists in the press box, was not amused either.