Overwhelmed by the intense ongoing Test series against India, Australia skipper Steve Smith asked the Dalai Lama for tips on sleeping better ahead of the fourth and final Test.
Smith and his team had a special meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in the picturesque hill city of Dharamsala on Friday, where the captain sought for secrets to a good night’s sleep (who wouldn’t, after the physical and mental strain of the series topped by Virat Kohli’s unstoppable war of words?)
“I asked him a question about sleep and how he could help me; he gave me his blessings, we rubbed our noses together,” Smith said in a presser following the meeting.
“Hopefully it will help me with my sleep over the next five days,” he added, laughing.
The skipper, who has smashed five centuries in his last seven Tests, said the meeting with the Dalai Lama relaxed him and his mates a bit.
“The meeting relaxed us a little bit. He’s all about compassion, oneness for each and every human being,” Smith said. “Sometimes we go over the top when we play cricket out in the middle. In the end of the day, it is a game and one must realise that.. That is something the team can take out of this meeting.â€
Smith has been in the centre of a controversy after his opposite number Virat Kohli accused him of systematically abusing the Decision Review System during the second Test in Bangalore.
The Aussie captain has admitted breaching the DRS rules by looking up to his own dressing-room to seek advice over whether to review an lbw dismissal, but he insists it was a one-off “brain-fade”.
The verbal volleys have continued unabated with each side hurling accusations at each other through the bitterly fought series, tantalisingly poised 1-1.
