BCCI files complaint against Smith, Handscomb

The Indian cricket board on Thursday evening filed an official complaint with the ICC over Australian captain Steve Smith allegedly seeking advice from the dressing room for use of DRS during the second Test at Bengaluru, according to an espncricinfo report.

According to the report, Board of Control for Cricket in India's CEO Rahul Johri lodged the complaint for an alleged level 2 offence against Aussie cricketers Steven Smith and batsman Peter Handscomb for acting against the spirit of the game.

A day earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had refrained from taking any action against Smith on Indian skipper Virat Kohli's allegation that he sought a signal from the Australian dressing room on using DRS after the umpire gave him out lbw.

Going by the ICC rules, Johri had up to 48 hours since the time of the incident -- which happened in the middle session on Tuesday -- to file a complaint.

The incident occurred on the fourth day of the second Test, when Smith looked towards the dressing room after having chatted with non-striker Handscomb when given out lbw to pacer Umesh Yadav. Australia eventually lost the Test by 75 runs on that day itself.

Smith's action prompted on-field umpire Nigel Llong to intervene immediately, and the Aussie captain was not allowed to review the decision.

The 27-year-old Smith, in the post-match presser, however, defended himself by terming it as "brain fade" -- which Kohli outrightly refused to agree with. Instead, Kohli said that the visitors had repeated the same thing on at least three occasions during the game.

--IANS

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