"Happy With Steve Smith's Intent At The Top" - Australia Assistant Coach Andre Borovec

Steve Smith opened for the first time in T20Is in the series against India. He scored 41-ball 52 in the 1st T20I, followed by 19 in the second match and struggled for momentum once the fielders spread out.

Despite Australia’s loss in the first two games, the assistant coach is happy with Smith’s intent that he has shown so far in the series. Smith’s T20I record as a batter is not that great. In 65 T20Is match, he is yet to score 2000 runs and scores his runs at a strike rate of 125.17.

Australia’s assistant coach Andre Borovec in an interaction with Cricket Australia denied accepting that the players did not show any intent with the bat. On the contrary, he was happy with the intent shown by his batters and especially Smith at the top.

We Had Plans To Have A Look At Steve Smith In This Series: Andre Borovec

“One of the things we had in our planning coming into this series was to have a look at Steve (Smith) up the top and we’ve had a chance to do that now. We’ve been extremely happy with the intent that he’s shown with the bat, (I) couldn’t fault it actually.” Borovec said.

“As of tonight, there’s 10 games to go for us before the T20 World Cup and one of the key pillars of our game is intent. You couldn’t fault that throughout the (batting) innings” he further added.

India have dominated in the first two games with Australia’s first-choice players being rested from the series. They chased 2019 in the first game and piled up 235 batting first in the second. A win in the third T20I will ensure a T20I series win for India.

Australia, on the other hand, are facing a must-win situation heading into the third T20I in Guwahati on November 28, Tuesday. The big match players of the World Cup-winning side needs to stand up in the third T20I. The assistant coach said that he is okay with mistakes as long as the players are looking to work on it and execute better.

“Will there be mistakes made? Of course. But if we’re making mistakes with good intent, good decisions and good plans, then if the execution doesn’t go quite right, well, we’re quite happy to accept that, and then we can work on the execution” Borovec concluded saying.

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