Justin Langer Has Done A Terrific Job As Coach Claims Steve Smith

Australian batsman Steve Smith has come out in support of his coach Justin Langer who has been put under the scanner after the loss to India in the Border Gavaskar Series. Australia produced a disappointing performance in the home Tests against India and the captain Tim Paine along with the coach Justin Langer were criticized by the people for the poor show. There have been talks arising that Justin Langer is more of a headmaster like an approach and he won’t suit the player’s mindset.

Meanwhile, Steve Smith who won the Allan Border medal recently has hailed Justin Langer for his efforts as a coach so far. Smith regained his form in the third Test at Syndey against India while the first two Tests did not fare out properly for him. R Ashwin was smart enough to deploy tactics for Smith and he did win the battle against Smith in the first two Tests.

Justin Langer Wins Steve Smith’s Support

Smith praised Justin Langer for doing a terrific job as the coach of the Australian team. Smith mentioned about the mindset of Langer to improve every day is the main feature a good coach should have. He told about split coaching being a factor in Langer’s performance as a coach and he admitted that he wants Langer to be part of Australia’s coaching set up a bit longer to prove his abilities.

“Absolutely, I think he’s (Langer) done a terrific job over the last couple of years, I wasn’t there the first year, but since I’ve been back I think he’s done a great job,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Smith as saying.

“He always wants to get better and that’s all you can ask of anyone in the setup, whether it be a player or a coach, as long as you’re striving to improve every day, then that’s all you can ask.”

“That kind of thing [split coaching] has been floated for a while for different formats and different teams and things like that around the world, not just Australia, so I think it’d be interesting.

“But Justin’s got my full support at the moment, I think he’s doing a terrific job and he has done for a few years, and I can’t see it changing anytime soon,” he added.

I’ve Had To Make Small Adjustments – Steve Smith

Steve Smith addressed his views on teams trying to deploy different tactics to get ahead of him. Smith opined that he has been a little more aggressive than he was before and he added that he is using different plans to counter the strategies against him. He stresses the importance of absorbing pressure at times and putting pressure back on the bowlers at times which will unsettle the bowler.

“Teams are starting to attack me a little bit differently or bowl to me a little bit differently, so I’ve had to make small adjustments,” Smith said.

“At times I’ve had to be perhaps a little more aggressive than I have been in the past. I think I did that pretty well in the last two Test matches here and just coming up with some different plans and different scoring options but continuing to also play the game in front of me.

“There are times in Test cricket where you’ve got to absorb pressure, a time when you’ve got to put the pressure back on the bowlers and try and get on top of them, and I did that well in the last two games, perhaps not as well in the first two of the summer

Steve Smith topped the batting charts for Australia in all formats scoring 1098 runs in the calendar year at 45.75