Steve Smith was unbeaten on 31 on the first day of the Sydney Test against India, which is his highest Test score in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. En-route to that score, he hit five boundaries and two of them to Ravichandran Ashwin in one over.
After the day’s play, Smith spoke about the strategy he applied against playing Ashwin who has already dismissed him thrice in the Test series so far. Smith had only scored 10 runs from four innings prior to this unbeaten knock of 31. Australia were comfortable 166 for two at stumps of a rain-marred day, with Marnus Labuschagne giving Smith company on 67.
Wanted To Put Ashwin Under Pressure: Steve Smith
Steve Smith was very determined not t get out to Ashwin and he brought all of that to his game on Day 1 of the SCG Test. The former Aussie skipper took on the spinners in the net leading to this Test match and applied the same against Ravichandran Ashwin on day 1 in Sydney. Smith spoke about the particular strategy he applied against playing Ashwin.
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“I was just trying to hold the grip a bit tighter, I’ve been struggling, so I was getting into good positions today. I was good to get a couple of boundaries early. Marnus played well, hopefully we go along well tomorrow” Steve Smith said.
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Steve Smith further said that it was nice to spend some time in the middle, one that he was not able to do till this point in the Test series. The talismanic run-scorer will look to make this start count as Australia look to post a mammoth total in the first innings. So far, the Aussies have only managed to score 200 which is their highest total in this series so far.
“I’m good, nice to spend a bit of time out there, nice to stitch in a partnership with Marnus. I wanted to put him (Ashwin) under a little bit of pressure which I haven’t done this series,” Smith said at the end of the day’s play” Smith told reporters.
Smith and Labuschagne added an unbeaten 60 together which helped Australia finish strong on Day 1. This happened after they lost David Warner early on the first day. Warner was making a comeback after missing the first two Tests.
Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini were the two wicket-takers for India on a rain-marred day of play. Ravichandran Ashwin toiled hard for 17 overs but ended wicketless. Like Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah too bowled 14 overs but had a wicketless spell. Ravindra Jadeja bowled three overs at the fag end of the day.
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