Champion Australian batsman Steve Smith has rubbished all the claims of him being in poor form after he stormed back into the reckoning with a masterly 131 in the first innings of the ongoing Sydney Test against India.
Smith had come into this game on the back of a string of single-digit scores in the first two Tests which had led to his critics question his technique and his form.
“I read a lot of things and plenty of people said I was out of form so it was nice to come back into form if that’s what you want to call it,” Steve Smith said at the end of day’s play.
“I mean, it was only about three weeks ago that I scored two hundred at the Sydney Cricket Ground. So yeah, it kind of just makes me laugh sometimes when people say that kind of thing,” he added.
“I missed out in the first two Tests obviously and came back today and scored some runs and helped I guess put us in a decent position.”
Smith was troubled by the leg-stump ploy by Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah in the first two Tests.
The former No.1 ranked Test batsman revealed that he made a few technical adjustments to counter India’s tactics but admitted that it was his positive intent that eventually made the difference in the end.
“I decided to be a bit more positive. I think early on I hit him (Ashwin) over his head, sort of just put a bit of pressure on him,” he said.
“So, yeah, it was a concerted effort to do that and I was happy with the way I played him,” he added.
Ultimately, it took a freakish direct hit by Ravindra Jadeja to dislodge Steve Smith but by then the legendary batsman had ensured that Australia got to a competitive total of 338.
Also Read: This Guy Is Very Quickly Becoming My Favorite Player To Watch: Mike Hussey In Awe Of Shubman Gill