Steve Smith opens up in this in-depth interview about his batting philosophy, from tempo to technique and everything in between, against spin bowling after having spent countless hours in the nets over the previous few days getting ready for the spin trial he’s anticipated to face in Galle.
Steve Smith explains his way of play against the spinners and when the interviewer asked Steve about his Indian tour, this is how Smith answered the question on India tour.
When asked, “Different conditions but if you go back to the India tour of Australia 2020-21, the way you batted against R Ashwin in the first two Tests as compared to the Sydney Test when you were ready to step out. When Steve Smith is generally hitting spinners over the top of their heads, he’s generally in full control. Does that make sense? And is that a blueprint for you to go against spinners?”
The Australian batsman answered ” I think probably the first couple of Tests (of that India series) I probably wasn’t right. Particularly in Melbourne, I didn’t expect the ball to be spinning as much as it did there and the bounce that Ashwin got. You don’t normally experience that in Australia as much. You can kind of sit back and just play and not be too proactive. And I probably didn’t adapt quite quick enough there. As that series went on, I think I was able to put a bit more pressure on, and once you put a bit more pressure on, it’s kind of a different story. I suppose in these conditions, you just can’t let someone settle. You have to be proactive, take them on where you can. Defend differently with a big reach, just be really fast on your feet, that’s what I’m working on right now and hopefully be able to implement that in the game.”
Australia have dominated both the sessions of the first day at Galle after Sri Lanka lost all its batsmen which could have been a dependent thought to the team. After the top order was cleaned up, Sweepson took two consecutive wickets in his over as Dinesh Chandimal walked bat with a duck score to his name.
Niroshan Dickwella and Ramesh Mendis are playing and the hosts depends their game on the last depending soldier – Dickwella, who can play after experiencing 50 Test games in his career.
Playing XI for both the teams:
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lasith Embuldeniya, Asitha Fernando