While Steve Smith is widely regarded as the best Test batsman of his generation, his record in the shorter format was dismal. In fact, the middle-order sensation had to sit on the bench for the majority of Australia’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign before being given a chance in the final Super 12 match against Afghanistan, where he scored just four runs.
However, Steven Smith has finally proven his critics wrong by consistently letting his bat do the talking for the Sydney Sixers in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) 2022, where he has so far registered two centuries and a quickfire half-century.
All of this was made possible by Smith’s decision to alter his batting technique in order to achieve the desired results.In fact, former Australian cricketer Greg Blewett has examined how the 33-year-old has consistently scored runs in the ongoing BBL.
During his analysis, Blewett compared Steven Smith’s batting styles from BBL 9 and 12 and explained how the veteran batter has made a minor change to his bat-holding technique.
“You can see on the left, (during season 9) how far is his bottom hand. He’s made a slight tweak (in season 12). He’s opened up a little bit it’s still around a fairway. But you can see in the back face on the left-hand side it’s closed. Then on the right it’s just a little bit more openly spoken about actually under-spinning the ball instead of hitting it with the spin,” he said while presenting on 7 Cricket show.
Steve Smith made headlines with his batting
A slight change from Steve Smith has unlocked a key to his T20 game, as @blewy214 explains #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/T0CqFrrZKy
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 23, 2023
Smith’s new technique has paid off handsomely recently, and he is on a roll as the Sydney Sixers look to make a statement in this year’s Big Bash League. Smith hit a 66-ball unbeaten 125 against city rivals Sydney Thunder, reaching three figures in just 56 deliveries. He also had a game-winning 56-ball 101 against the Adelaide Strikers. The 33-year-old recently scored 66 runs off 33 deliveries against the Hobart Hurricanes at a strike rate of 200.
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