IND vs AUS: Ravi Shastri speaks about Australia captain Steve Smith

After Australia skipper Pat Cummins rushed back home for personal reasons, Steve Smith is captaining the side for the third Border-Gavaskar Test against India. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri praised Smith and stated that the batter is a better player when he leads the team. The ex-India cricketer made the comment in his column for The Age.

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Shastri also compared Smith and Cummins, stating that the former “understands the tempo of cricket in India better than what Cummins would have. There have been moments in the series where the inexperience of Cummins as captain in these conditions came through rather evidently. And this has hurt Australia.”

He also referred to Smith’s record in India while playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) or captaining his side earlier.

“Whenever I have seen Smith captain the side, he’s been a different batter, a better batter”, Shastri wrote, adding that the 31-year-old’s focus and batting average improve with the responsibility of stewarding the Australian team. The former India head coach praised Smith, calling him “one of those players who thrive on the extra workload of leading their side”.

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According to Shastri, the middle-order batter could be a lethal opponent for India in the remaining matches. “India will be aware that someone like Smith somewhere down the line in this series will come good. He showed glimpses in Nagpur, but Ravichandran Ashwin got the better of him twice in Delhi. However, a player of his pedigree would have realised that he can correct what hasn’t worked for him so far. And there are few better than him to make that slight correction count with a big score,” the former India coach wrote.

Steve Smith was Australia’s set captain earlier but lost the position due to his involvement in the infamous ball-tampering scandal.

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Smith has scored 8,718 runs in 94 Tests at an average of 60.12. The right-handed batter failed to register significant scores to his name in the first two fixtures of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has scored 71 runs in the two Tests so far.

Australia trail the Border-Gavaskar series 0-2 and aim to gain some winning momentum with a victory in the Indore Test, which started today (1 March). The Australian bowling line-up, led by Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon, scythed through the hosts in the first session. Kuhnemann took a five-fer, giving away just 16 runs in his 9-over spell. India were eventually bowled out for a paltry 109 runs.

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