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Steven Smith
Australia
Personal Information
Born Jun 02, 1989 (30 years) Birth Place Sydney, New South Wales Height -- Role
Batsman Batting Style Right Handed Bat Bowling Style Right-arm legbreak ICC
Rankings TestODIT20Batting 2 23 76 Bowling -- -- -- Career InformationTeams
Australia, Royal Challengers Bangalore, New South Wales, Worcestershire, Kochi
Tuskers Kerala, Sydney Sixers, Pune Warriors, Antigua Hawksbills, Australians,
Rajasthan Royals, Sydney Thunder, Rising Pune Supergiant, Toronto Nationals,
Barbados Tridents, Comilla Victorians
The best Test batsman at present, Steven Smith's career redemption is a story for
the ages. Having made his name initially as a potential leg-spinner who could bat a
bit, there was immense c...
Full profile
Batting Career Summary
M Inn NO Runs HS Avg BF SR 100 200 50 4s 6s
Test 73 131 16 7227 239 62.84 13068 55.3 26 3 29 799 42
ODI 121 106 12 4039 164 42.97 4648 86.9 9 0 24 345 35
T20I 36 28 7 577 90 27.48 448 128.79 0 0 4 53
12
IPL 81 72 18 2022 101 37.44 1568 128.95 1 0 8 180
49
Bowling Career Summary
M Inn B Runs Wkts BBI BBM Econ Avg SR 5W 10W
Test 73 54 1381 960 17 3/18 4/83 4.17 56.47 81.24 0 0
ODI 121 39 1070 963 28 3/16 3/16 5.4 34.39 38.21 0 0
T20I 36 17 291 378 17 3/20 3/20 7.79 22.24 17.12 0 0
IPL 81 1 2 5 0 0/5 0/5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
Career Information
Test debut vs Pakistan at Lord's, Jul 13, 2010 Last Test vs New Zealand at Sydney
Cricket Ground, Jan 03, 2020 ODI debut vs West Indies at Melbourne Cricket Ground,
Feb 19, 2010 Last ODI vs India at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Jan 19, 2020 T20 debut vs
Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Feb 05, 2010 Last T20 vs Pakistan at Perth
Stadium, Nov 08, 2019 IPL debut vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium, Apr 06, 2012
Last IPL vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Apr 30, 2019
ProfileThe best Test batsman at present, Steven Smith's career redemption is a
story for the ages. Having made his name initially as a potential leg-spinner who
could bat a bit, there was immense criticism, even among those in Australia over
the quality of his selection during his early days in international cricket.
However, they were made to eat humble pie as the enigmatic man from New South Wales
turned things around in sensational fashion to feature among the best batsmen in
the world.

It was the 2007-08 domestic season when Smith made his debut across formats. He was
known to give the ball a fair rip and could generate a lot of turn as a leg
spinner. His boyish charm and the run up to the crease even drew comparisons with
the legendary Shane Warne who had just retired from international cricket a season
or so before. Smith's talent was evident but he was too raw for the big stage. In a
couple of years, the national call-up came with the limited-overs debut happening
in February 2010. The tour of England later that year saw his initiation in the
longest format as well.

Smith started off as a player who could bat at 7 or 8 apart from bowling his
leggies. However, there was still a lot of rawness in his skill set. His selection
during the Ashes series of 2010-11 drew a lot of contempt and after Australia lost
the urn, his career also faded a touch, being dropped from all formats of the game.
There was a feeling among the pundits that the bloke had more talent with the bat
than with the ball. There was certainly a lot of courage about Smith the batsman
and he started working more consciously on it. The former Australian great Greg
Chappell once remarked that Smith was the best batting talent in the country. In
the coming years, he would be proved right in a big way.

Fittingly, it was an Ashes series that showcased Smith's resurgence. During the
trip of England in 2013, he exhibited a far more improved level of batsmanship,
sprinkled with a good dose of grit and mental strength. The unorthodox technique
had only grown with an exaggerated trigger movement and shuffle across the stumps,
all of which raised eyebrows among the purists. The bottomline though, was that it
proved effective and he had an impressive series. Although Australia lost the
series, the selectors decided to invest in Smith version 2.0 and the return Ashes
series at home that summer saw him continue his upward graph.

There were a few crisis knocks from him, including the Ashes-sealing hundred at the
MCG and he followed it up with an equally impressive tour of South Africa. His
contributions were valuable in both those series as Australia emerged victorious.
If the 2013-14 season saw Smith making a strong comeback to the international
arena, the following season established him among the best in the world. A
phenomenal home series against India was the starting point and he hasn't looked
back ever since, racking up runs in all conditions against all kinds of attacks.
His exploits saw him ranked number one in Tests during the year 2015 and he has
remained there since then, by a fairly good margin as well.

Even as Smith plundered runs at will, there were still a few skeptical opinions on
him, about his ability to score in seaming/spinning conditions. The 2015 Ashes tour
of England did see him notch up a couple of tons, including a double century at
Lord's while the 2017 tour of India displayed him at his impeccable best. Both the
series were proof enough that Smith virtually had everything covered in his
batting. After England tour in 2015, he was expectedly appointed as Australia's
captain for Tests and ODIs while the T20I leadership came over the next six months.

White-ball cricket has also been a success for Smith although not as much as his
Test heroics. In ODIs especially, he has worked himself up the ladder as a premier
batsman. The 2015 World Cup was memorable for him as he became the first player to
achieve five successive fifty-plus scores in the tournament's history. Those
included the quarterfinal, semifinal and final. In T20Is, Smith hasn't quite had
the impact that he would have liked to. Missing most of the series hasn't helped
either. Nevertheless, his prowess has been on show during the T20 leagues, notably
in the IPL where he even led the Pune franchise to the final in 2017.

It seemed like things were perfect for Smith, runs kept coming especially in Tests
but his bargains in ODIs were moderate where Australia were also on a bit of a lean
patch. Nevertheless, the reputation that Smith had built up was sensational.
However, tragedy struck fiercely on Australia's tour of South Africa in March 2018.
The series was strongly contested like most series between the two sides but the
on-field controversy ruled the roost with things getting ugly in the third Test at
Cape Town. Australia were found guilty of ball tampering that was apparently
preplanned as well. As a result Smith along with vice-captain David Warner and
rookie Cameron Bancroft faced the boot.

The ICC slammed a one-Test ban on Smith who was enduring a poor series with the bat
as well but the punishment back home from Cricket Australia was more severe - a one
year exile from all forms of cricket. The incident saw him being stripped of IPL
captaincy for the Royals and consequently, ruled out of the tournament. Having
endured a tough one-year ban, Smith returned to competitive cricket in March 2019
through the IPL. Despite seeming a bit rusty, his class was evident and it wasn't
surprising when he walked straight back into Australia's World Cup squad.

IPL through the years

Right from his debut year in the IPL in 2012, Steve Smith made an instant
impression. That was a time when he wasn’t a regular Australian cricketer and was
touted as a middle order batsman who could bowl a bit of leg-spin. Naturally, that
was his designation in the IPL too, as he got snapped up by the Pune Warriors. He
ended up with more than 350 runs at a fine strike rate without a single fifty in
the season – a testimony of his consistency as he regularly chipped in with useful
knocks down the order. The 2013 season was underwhelming and with the franchise’s
expiry, Smith was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals in 2014.

His maiden season for RR was again lukewarm at best with no real big scores but
again, he was batting at the very end, more as one of the team’s finishers. His
rise as an international coincided with a reasonably good 2015 season which
increased his stocks as an IPL batsman. Smith followed it up with his maiden IPL
century in 2016 for the Rising Pune Supergiant, one of the temporary franchisees
formed due to the suspension of CSK and RR. Injury cut short his campaign that year
but he came back stronger in 2017, as captain and led the team to the final which
they lost by a whisker. The Australian did enjoy a reasonably good season with the
bat.

The 2019 IPL was Smith’s first real competitive engagement since being banned by
Cricket Australia for the ball-tampering allegations in March 2018. He had missed
the IPL season too that year but returned with a moderate season for the Rajasthan
Royals. As he recently recovered from an elbow injury that required surgery, he was
initially rusty but found his range as the season progressed. Captaincy wasn't
given to him initially but inevitably, it returned to him at the fag end of the
season. Smith’s resurgence as a top class Test batsman may have restricted his
white-ball strokeplay a bit but he remains a dependable batsman who should be
starting for RR, possibly as their number three.

World Cup through the years

A young Smith was at the forefront of Australia’s victorious World Cup win in 2015.
Consistent through the tournament, it was his antics at the business end that were
laudable. His last five knocks in the tournament were all fifty-plus scores and he
became the first player to have such knocks in the quarterfinal, semifinal and
final of the World Cup. It wasn’t his first World Cup though, as he had played in
the 2011 edition but more as a bowling all-rounder who could bowl leg spin. As a
premier player, 2015 was his first real test and he passed it with flying colors.
Come the 2019 tournament, Smith will be the glue around which Australia’s batting
revolves.

The 2019 WC saw Australia crashing out in the semis to eventual champions England
but it was again Smith who stood tall amidst the ruins even in the semis as he
saved Australia from a collapse. Smith was assigned a new role at 4 and he did
reasonably well of being the anchor man of the team.

However, it would be the Ashes that would mark his proper reconciliation with
cricket as this was the format which had triggered the ban. Having scored 8 tons
against England, Smith will be fancying his chances on adding to the tally.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan

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