Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey has brushed off criticism from former Test captain Allan Border on Steve Smith's thumbs-up gesture to Ravindra Jadeja by saying "that's probably what gets Smith pretty focused".
During the second innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Nagpur, Steve Smith gave Indian all-rounder Jadeja a thumbs up after beating his outside edge.
After the match, while Speaking to Fox Cricket, Border slammed Smith's on-field antics and described the gesture as ridiculous. "Play with a harder edge. I mean, we're giving blokes the thumbs up when they're beating us outside the off stump.
What the hell is going on? That is just ridiculous," Border said on Saturday. While speaking to the reporters on Tuesday, Carey backed Smith's on-field gesture and said he highly respects the Australian Test great.
"We highly respect Allan Border. I guess among the group, guys do it differently. We come up against these players a lot," Carrey was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.
"You're probably alluding to the Steve Smith comment more than any but, you know, he's mates with a lot of them. And that's the way he (Smith) plays. He does it in all situations.
He plays around with his hands and does all that stuff. And I think that's probably what gets him pretty focused. "They're obviously strong comments but, as a group, we believe in what we're doing and come the second Test we're ready to put a few learnings into place."