Indian great praises Smith's conduct

Australia captain Steve Smith has earned high praise from India legend Sunil Gavaskar for his conduct in the hard-fought Test series against India.

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Smith was involved in several flashpoints throughout the series, but still scored 499 runs at more than 71 with three centuries from the four Tests.

Smith and India counterpart Virat Kohli had a running verbal battle during the second Test in Bengaluru, and was engulfed in controversy after looking towards the dressing room when contemplating calling for a review.

A judiciously cropped photograph caused outrage in the India media which accused the Australia captain of celebrating Kohli's dismissal by grabbing his shoulder to mock his injury in Ranchi, only for the uncropped version to clearly show the hand on his shoulder was a teammate's.

And in Dharamsala a camera trained on the skipper in the dressing room caught his spontaneous reaction to a claimed catch being overruled by the third umpire.

The captain took the opportunity at series end to apologise for letting his emotions get the better of him at times throughout a heated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

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"I'm proud of my performances in this series," Smith said after Australia lost the series 2-1 on day four in Dharamsala.

"I set myself very high standards and I wanted to lead from the front with my performances in this series.

"I've been very intense and in my own little bubble and at times I've let my emotions and actions just falter a little bit and I apologise for that throughout this series. 

"That's a big stride for me moving forward and something I can really learn from and grow as an individual and as a leader."

The sentiment was well received by the Indian legend whose name is on the trophy.

"Steve Smith is a big man to admit that he has made a mistake," Sunil Gavaskar said on India news channel NDTV.

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"My respect for him has gone even higher for admitting that he was wrong."

Another former India cricketer in Aakash Chopra agreed, adding: "Not only a great batsman but Steve Smith is a very good human being."