Kohli vs Smith: Five instances when cricketers had a 'brain fade'

When cricketers did not play in the spirit of the game

India beat Australia convincingly in one of the most remarkable Indian test victories at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru yesterday. The victory was sweet but the aftertaste has been bitter and Indian captain, Virat Kohli was the first to admit this when he all but accused the Australian captain, Steve Smith of cheating in the post-match press conference.

Here is what happened:

The Australian captain was batting on 28 when he was trapped in front of the wickets by a ball and the umpire upheld the appeal for LBW. Smith seemed dazed and first consulted his batting partner at the other end to ask what he thought of it. He could have asked the umpire to go upstairs for a video review under the Decision Review System (DRS) but instead of that he looked in the direction of the Australian dressing room and asked them what they thought. The Indian team objected and the umpire ordered Smith off the field.

Later, Smith described his indiscretion as a 'brain fade'. Virat Kohli didn't agree with that and asserted that they had complained about such instances to the umpires and match referee, Chris Broad earlier too.

BCCI's official handle tweeted about this 'brain fade' by asking whether DRS meant Dressing room review system. This is the tweet:

This is not the first time, when Smith has come under the cloud for attempts to game the DRS system. During the Ashes series in England in 2013, Smith and 

Graham Onions had denied claims that batsmen were using silicon tape to prevent detection of edges by the hot spot decision review system.

There have been other instances in the past when Cricketers have not not played fair on the field or - to use Steve Smith's now famous phrase - had a 'brain fade'. We pick five of them: 

1. Hello Roger Harper!

Roger Harper was one of the best fielders in the world in his time and could be depended upon to catch well, except this instance when he took a return catch from Bevan and then appealed. Bevan stood his ground. So who was right?



2. Australia make a hit wicket appeal against Sri Lanka

Play was held up as the Aussies 'discovered' that a bail was on the ground and that could have been a case for hit-wicket. But was it? Have you heard of Justin Langer?
 

3. Ricky Ponting appeals for a catch that he took or did he?

This test match between India and Australia became infamous when the captain Anil Kumble said that only one team seemed to be playing in the spirit of the game. Ricky Ponting was at the heart of this controversy when he claimed a catch that wasn't. Or was it?



4. What are you up to Rashid Latif?

In this test match against Bangladesh at Multan in 2003, the then Pakistani captain, Rashid Latif took a 'catch' when the batsman Alok Kapali edged the ball. But the problem was that the ball was clearly dropped and Latif still claimed it and the batsman was declared out. Match referee Mike Proctor later penalised Latif and banned him for five matches



5. Michael Clarke stands his ground

In the same series between India and Australia in 2008, when Ricky Ponting claimed a catch he didn't take, Michael Clarke also had a 'brain fade' when he edged a ball that flew to first slip and then stood his ground, waiting for the umpire to rule him out.