Skipper Smith calls for fresh batting approach
BENGALURU: Australia skipper Steve Smith is considered thorough in his preparation. Smith was part of the team that imploded famously on the 2013 tour, and his first significant knock, 92 in the third Test in Mohali where the one-match ban to four players over their role in the ‘Homeworkgate’ affair made his role as batsman prominent.
After leading from the front in first Test in Pune, the Aussie skipper urged his batsmen to take the way they adapted to another level.
SMITH AT HIS PEAK
Australian media reported how Smith, 27, felt he was ‘in the zone’ during his knock of 109, becoming only the third Australia batsman to score a second innings century in India.
Only then skipper Mark Taylor on the 1998 tour and Damien Martyn in the 2004 series, when Australia ended a 35-year wait to win a Test series in India, had managed that. Five of his 18 centuries have come against India, from just seven Tests.
The pitch is expected to be drastically different from the Pune surface, and gradually aid spinners as the match wears on. But Australia will stick to the same eleven which played in Pune, with opener Matt Renshaw having recovered after suffering a stomach bug during the first game.
ADAPTING KEY
“First innings runs are going to be crucial, bat well for a period of time, post a big first innings score. That is what I make of it at this stage,” he told the media on Friday.
“We have to start again here,” he said. “It looks like it is going to be a different wicket. We have to win one more game to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
BATTING TIME
“Things can happen pretty quicky here in India at certain times, to get back into the game, and we could only be a couple of sessions into the game. We have to come into the game with the mindset of adapt to this wicket. That is going to be crucial.
“It’s about the mindset of batting for a period of time. The last wicket we played on, we thought 250 was a good total. Here, it’s going to be crucial to score big runs in the first innings.”
First innings runs are going to be crucial, bat well for a period of time, post a big first innings score. That is what I make of it at this stage. STEVE SMITH, Asutralia skipper