Steve Smith was very smart and selective with his approach during Ashes, says Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar has lauded Steve Smith for his smart and selective approach while handling English bowlers during the Ashes. Tendulkar said this explaining his tweet that stated it was Smith’s organised mindset despite his complicated technique that set him apart among his contemporaries.
In his comeback series in red-ball cricket, Smith climbed to the numero uno spot for batsmen, aggregating 774 runs from seven innings at a staggering average of 110.57. While many a cricket pundit has already sung praises about Smith’s style of batting, the Indian maestro, however, explained how Smith’s unique batting style is both unorthodox as well as genius.
"In the first Test, the English bowlers tried to get him caught behind the wickets with slips and gully in place. And Smith just shuffled across and exposed his leg stumps to cover the line, and was selective and smart in his approach.," Tendulkar told PTI.
"At Lord's, they had leg-slip for him on occasions and a few short-pitched deliveries against Jofra Archer got him in trouble as he tried to cover the line with the weight on his back-foot. The most important thing for any batsman is to keep the head position forward and wait leaning forward or marginally in-line. Smith got into bad positions and that's how he probably got hit," he continued.
Jofra Archer’s vicious bouncer in the first innings of the second Test saw Smith miss out on the second innings and the third Test as well. But Smith came back with a vengeance, made slight adjustments to his technique, and hit scores of 211 and 82 to win Australia the fourth Test, and thus retain the Ashes.
"In the final two Tests, he was leaving the ball while leaning forward and looked in better positions. He worked on his technique very smartly. That is why I say, 'complicated technique, but extremely organised mindset'," Tendulkar added.