Watch: Steve Smith's stunning catch goes in vain as third umpire rules it illegitimate

Australia and South Africa clashed against each other in the third and final Test match of the series at Sydney Cricket Ground. On Day 4, the Kangaroos reduced the Proteas to 149 for six at the close of the play on the fourth day of the rain-disputed third Test on Saturday after declaring on 475/4 in the hope of a victory that would give them a 3-0 sweep.

However, the highlight of the day came when Steve Smith took a superb catch in the ongoing Test match but his effort went in vain after the third umpire ruled out the catch. Aussie fast bowler Josh Hazlewood gave the Proteas skipper Dean Elgar a tough time and bowled a good length delivery outside the off-stump. Elgar got an outside edge on it, smith took a stunning catch at the slip but the ground umpires were not convinced by his catch.

Watch the video here:

Not out!



The third umpire decided this effort from Steve Smith touched the ground and Dean Elgar lives on #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/fy8bI6CAS6

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 7, 2023

Ground umpires sent the decision upstairs for the final check. The soft signal from umpire Chris Gaffaney was not out. Smith plucked it one-handed inches above the turf. The zoomer is out and it seemed to have kissed the turf from the angle behind the slip cordon. To everyone's surprise, the third umpire ruled it in favor of the batter as he felt that the ball touched the surface before Smith took the catch.

Australia will look to clean-sweep the series

Talking about the match, Australia who are already 2-0 up in the three-match series, won the toss and opted to bat first in the third Test match and it was all about opener Usman Khawaja as he smashed 195 runs in the first innings. However, he missed his double century but the reason was skipper Pat Cummins as he declared their 1^st innings when Khawaja was stuck on 195*.

Earlier, Smith also smashed a hundred. The poor weather was constantly washing out the best part of the match. Coming in to bat, South Africa lost their three wickets on the score of 37 runs. Cummins (3-29) and Hazlewood (2-19) rose to the task with some ferocious pace bowling as the hosts broke South African resistance every time a partnership looked like developing.