Steve Smith has only scored 76 runs across four innings in the ongoing Test series against SA (Credit: Cricket Australia) Steve Smith returns to the venue that profoundly influenced him eight years after the controversial 2018 Cape Town Test. When he, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were discovered tampering with the ball in what became known as the "Sandpapergate," the former captain was at the center of one of the worst periods in Australian cricket history. Since the last Test match between South Africa and Australia at the Newlands, a lot has changed. Smith won two World Cups, announced his retirement from ODIs, completed a year-long ban, and rejoined Australia as a stand-in captain. Smith is under scrutiny once more ahead of the third Test final. Runs have been difficult for him, and he is dealing with neck problems. The best part is that Cape Town is less than a day away. Faf du Plessis, who lived with Smith in Cape Town at the time of the controversy, sympathised with the 100-Test veteran and remembered the Australian's generosity in the years before Sandpapergate. "Steve came out at the end of the day saying: ‘I take responsibility.’ And we were like: ‘Why are you taking responsibility? You did nothing wrong,’” recalled du Plessis on Cricinfo’s Cricketers on Cricketers podcast “And then everything just exploded in terms of the media and how he was being put under pressure. Straight away, I was like: this is not his doing. This is the same thing [as my ball-tampering charge]. "I remember sending a message and saying: ‘Listen, I’m so sorry you are going through this. Just be strong. It’s going to be a hell for a week or so, and then it will probably blow over.’ Never knowing that it was going to be a year for him to go through. But just saying… we’re behind you. We understand you did nothing wrong. So if you need anything from us, we’re here." Even though Smith had to pay a high price for his actions, a lot has changed since then. He has received a lot of forgiveness for what happened at Newlands. Even though he was occasionally jeered, other people defended him, such as Virat Kohli during the 2019 World Cup match between Australia and India. Du Plessis is in a good position to comprehend Smith's situation. He was in a similar predicament in 2016 after being convicted of tampering with the ball during a Test match against Australia. Cameras captured du Plessis shining the ball with a mixture of spit and mint residue. When du Plessis was in trouble back then, he received unexpected help. “At the time, in our dressing room, honestly, we thought nothing has happened badly. But cameras [were] everywhere. And it just got built up into this thing now. All of a sudden, I was in real trouble. It was going around the world, people saying, ‘Cheating’. That weighs heavy on you,” added du Plessis. “He was asked: What are your thoughts on Faf du Plessis and Mintgate, and it’s terrible, he’s cheating. And he’s like no he’s not. He’s just shining the ball. I’ve been in many teams where we shine the ball, we use different sweets. We were listening to it on the TV and literally everyone in our group was like, 'Wow, he doesn't have to do that’. That was a choice where he went: I’m going to choose probably the human, the right thing, versus the pressure thing. That was amazing for me to see. I remember just saying that that meant a lot to the South African team and the respect that we got for Steve Smith that day.” Nikhil is an accomplished sports journalist with extensive experience spanning several years across digital, and multimedia platforms. Currently contr... View More