11 years ago, during India’s tour of Australia, an incident involving three of the biggest stars of modern-day cricket became a major talking point of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A simple appeal for LBW
exploded into a full-blown heated exchange involving Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith, with the then India Test captain Virat Kohli making a fiery intervention while David Warner attempted to douse the raging fire.
Rohit had made an appeal for LBW against Smith, who had stepped out to pad away a delivery from the India bowler. The Aussie batter was not happy with Rohit’s appeal and made his displeasure known to the on-field umpire.
An irked Rohit repeatedly asked, “What?” – questioning Smith for his unnecessary complaint.
Kohli, who was fielding at first slip, took exception to the exchange and gave Smith a piece of his mind. A fiery exchange followed; Warner intervened before Kohli asked Smith to “stay in your limits”.
Now, Rohit has opened up on the heated altercation, revealing details of what transpired in the middle.
“He (Smith) padded a straight delivery, so I appealed to the umpire (for LBW). He started complaining to the umpire so I told him, ‘Tu kya puch raha hai bhai? Tu apna batting kar. Umpire ko apna kaam karne de, humare ko apna kaam karne de (Why are you complaining? Do your job and let me and umpire do our jobs),'” Rohit said.
Rohit Sharma talking about the fight that happened with Steve Smith in Australia while he was bowling to him.😂🔥
bRO is such a funny character 😂
— ????????????????????????????⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) December 17, 2025
“Then David Warner joined, Virat was fielding in the slip region. (Cheteshwar) Pujara chimed in but he just walked in and walked out without saying anything,” Rohit recalled while imitating Pujara’s walk, leaving everyone in stitches.
While India lost the contest by 48 runs, Kohli, who was leading India for the first time in his Test career, had a memorable outing, hitting twin centuries.
