Australia batter Steve Smith had survived two close calls on his way to scoring 71 against Bangladesh on the opening day of the Darwin Test on Thursday.

First, he was dropped at slip by Tanzid Hasan Tamim on two off Ebadot Hossain.

The pacer again thought he had Smith’s wicket when the batter was on seven, when he and the Bangladesh fielders confidently appealed for a caught behind, which on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena refused.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto referred the decision straightaway and Smith also seemed ready to walk back to the pavilion.

However, the Ultra Edge technology showed no spike as the ball went past the bat and the third umpire upheld the original decision.

After the day’s play, Smith admitted that even he felt something as the ball went past the bat and had thought he was caught.

“I think so, yeah,” Smith said in the post-day press conference when asked if he had nicked the ball.

“I was lucky? Yeah, it seems that way. You’ve got to take it sometimes,” Smith said with a laugh. “Maybe I didn’t nick it, but I certainly felt something. If I’d been given out I was going to walk off.”

Smith’s knock proved pivotal for Australia, as he was the only host batter to cross the 30-run mark in an underwhelming batting performance.

Australia were bundled out for a mere 198 after opting to bat first.

After the poor showing with the bat, questions were raised about Pat Cummins’ decision to send in his batters on a greenish surface.

Smith said the nature of the wicket changed overnight.

“Yesterday guys thought the wicket was rock-hard. We turned up this morning, and it was a bit tacky, I think just from the dew, potentially. It definitely hardened up as the day went on, but it will be interesting to see if there’s that same dew tomorrow morning.”

Bangladesh finished the day on 96-1, trailing by 102 runs.