AUS vs PAK | Expect Pakistan to come back hard, but we’ll be prepared, proclaims Steve Smith

Back in front of the home crowd after their Ashes heroics, the Aussies put up a clinical show, dominating the first Test at the Gabba from the second session onwards. Although they did win the encounter by an innings and five runs, senior batsman Smith expects the Pakistanis to fight back hard in the final match of their tour. 

“Yeah, it was a good week last week for the boys. Played some good cricket and got the result we were after. We’ve come here to Adelaide expecting Pakistan to come back hard, but we’ll prepare well the next few days and hold ourselves in good stead,” Smith told Adam Collins in an interview segment called ‘Unplugged’ with Cricbuzz.

While most of his teammates had an individually satisfying outing in the first match, Smith had a rare poor showing with the bat, only scoring four runs and being clean bowled by leg-spinner Yasir Shah. But put into context, his return to Test cricket has been nothing short of spectacular and Smith reckons it has to with his relaxed state of mind.

“Not what last week’s batting suggested. Taken as a whole, I feel like I’m playing well, probably not the best I’ve ever batted. I feel ok. Hopefully, get some good prep in this week and get some runs. Yeah, I’m pretty relaxed. Just enjoying what I’m doing. Love being able to play cricket for Australia. It’s an honour and a privilege. I’m just really enjoying that at the moment. Happy to contribute to the team’s success as much as I can,” he said.

Smith had words of encouragement for young Marnus Labuschagne, who notched up his first century for Australia in the last Test match. 

“He is a bit stranger than me though, I think. Look he’s someone that come on leaps and bounds in the last 12-18 months. The time away he had playing county cricket in England taught him a lot about batting, the tempo of the game and stuff like that. It was great to see score his first hundred for Australia last week. I think he’s going to keep getting better and better,” Smith added.

The world’s leading Test batsman further added that he was excited to play in another pink-ball Test match come Friday.