Australia cricketer Steve Smith has broken silence after being accused by former cricketer Ian Chappell of 'white-anting' (Australian colloquial term for undermining) Tim Paine during the recently-concluded Day-Night Test in Adelaide. Australia dismissed Pakistan for 239 Monday to win the day-night second Test at Adelaide by an innings and 48 runs inside four days and wrap up the series 2-0.

© Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Chappell had expressed his displeasure as according to him, Smith continued to fiddle with the position of a fielder, initially set by Paine. Smith has now broken his silence on the issue and stated he was trying to help the skipper as much as possible.



"I only try and help Tim as much as I can," Smith told 9News as quoted by Daily Mail. "He's doing a terrific job, but I give him suggestions and things like that. "I only want the team to do well. I'm certainly not undermining him."

Smith's making adjustments to the field had angered Chappell and he hit out at the former Australia skipper during Pakistan's second innings in Adelaide.

"I tell you what I don't like to see, Steve Smith is moving a few fieldsmen around," Chappell told Macquarie Sports Radio as quoted by Fox Sports. "He did have a chat with Tim Paine, trying to talk Tim Paine into moving a fielder on the off-side, but I'm not sure Tim Paine moved him as far as Steve Smith wanted.

"Steve Smith started moving him, I hate to see that. England used to do it a bit, blokes other than the captain and I always felt it was white anting the captain," he added.

Australia closed the gap on leaders India in World Test Championship following their comprehensive 2-0 series victory against Pakistan on home soil. Tim Paine's troops took home full 120 points after comprehensive victories in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively. India, who are yet to drop a point in the nine-team championship, reached 360 points after their innings victory in the pink ball Test against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens.

Each series of the WTC is worth 120 points, distributed evenly over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 points for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series.