Shubman Gill caught in the middle of Smith and Labuschagne's sledging, retaliates but faces consequences immediately

In recent times, the series has been marked by numerous instances of verbal sparring between players on opposing teams, ranging from lighthearted jests to intense exchanges. During the first day of the match at the SCG, one such incident took place during the pre-lunch session when Shubman Gill was involved in a lively discussion with Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith. Unfortunately for Gill, this engagement resulted in a penalty being imposed on him.

Trying to see out the final over before break from Nathan Lyon, Gill engaged in some gardening on the pitch, taking his time to tap it down while Lyon was already ready to bowl. Smith, fielding at regulation slip, wasn’t having any of it, saying “This is bull****,” before saying directly to Gill, “Oi, let’s play.”

Gill wasn’t happy with Smith piping up from the field, and was quick to retort by saying “You take your time, Smithy, nobody says anything to you.” Labuschagne, fielding at leg-slip, was quick to jump to his teammate and good friend’s defence, saying “Yeah you do!” with laughter.

Smith with the last laugh over Gill

Labuschagne then says to Smith, “Take your time Smithy,” to which his partner responded “Yeah I will.”

It was ultimately Smith who got the last laugh, as his chirping helped break the focus of Gill. On the last ball of the Lyon over, Gill stepped out to try and block the last delivery before lunch, but could only edge the delivery, with a standard catch flying comfortably into the hands of Smith.

Gill was dismissed for a patient 20 off 64 deliveries, but having seen out a testing morning session while reconstructing the innings with Virat Kohli upon his return to the lineup, Gill would have been disappointed with the manner and the timing of his dismissal, right before the break.

Gill came back into the team to replace Rohit Sharma, slotting back into number three while Jasprit Bumrah took over captaincy duties as India look to pull off a win in Sydney and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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