Former Australia captain and veteran batsman Steve Smith has recently opened up on his series against India last summer where India’s bowling attack troubled him. Smith has revealed that India’s pace attack outsmarted him in the first two matches before he smashed a century in the third.
However, India’s bowlers put a break on his scoring abilities by bowling straighter lines and not giving him much width during the Test series. They also used strong leg-side fields to restrict him from scoring that side as well.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Steve Smith said:
“I wasn’t too surprised with the way India came at me last summer. It was more about just trying to stop me scoring for a lot of the time – they were just trying to ‘out-patient’ me, in a way, and I think they probably got the better of me in the first couple of Tests, and then I got going in Sydney, where I actually started to bat a bit better as well.”
Steve Smith, who has ranked second among the batsmen in the longer format, failed to do well as Australia suffered a series loss at home. He had an average of 44.71 in the four-match Test series, scoring 313 runs only. However, Smith is ready to face England in the upcoming Ashes series and he is confident also to score runs after working on his batting technique.
“I’ve got my game pretty well set now” – Steve Smith
Meanwhile, he has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Test team alongside Pat Cummins, who will lead the team after Tim Paine resigned. However, he was the leading run-getter in the last two Ashes series, and this time too he will try to do well.
“I think I’ve got my game pretty well set now, and then I think there’s just minor tweaks that need to come in place depending on who I’m playing against, where I’m playing and what’s coming at me. Being able to adapt is the most important thing for me in terms of longevity; people come up with different plans – different fields, different ways of attacking you – and it’s up to you to be good enough to counter what comes at you. That for me is what I try and improve each day – just my thought process on how I want to go about it,” Steve Smith concluded.
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