Matthew Hayden, former Australian opener has warned the Indian cricket team that in-form Steve Smith will be eager to pounce on them after having missed out the 2018-19 series against the Virat Kohli-led team.
He made this observation while previewing the forthcoming 4 Tests of Border-Gavaskar Trophy in a recent edition of the Star Sports show Game Plan.
Matthew Hayden. Photo Credit: Getty Images.
Matthew Hayden: Steve Smith Loves Playing Against India
Matthew Hayden was asked how keen would Steve Smith be to do well against India in the forthcoming Tests considering that he is a committed, driven cricketer and in a league of his own in Tests. The Queenslander highlighted that the Australian batting mainstay enjoys an excellent record against India as he loves to play against the Indians managing 499 runs in the last series in India in 2017 averaging 71.29.
“Steve Smith loves playing against India. He has almost scored 1500 runs at just sub a 100 average. He has had plenty of success against India.”
Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. Image Credit: Getty Images.
Matthew Hayden observed that Steve Smith would be hurt because of the fact that he could not play against India when the Virat Kohli-led team inflicted a series defeat on the Kangaroos last time around in 2018-19 to register their maiden Test series win in Australian soil.
“He will be a little dirty as well that he wasn’t involved in the 2018-19 series where India did get up. That was a big loss for Australia and a big loss for him in person as well because in the 2014-15 series he had a huge average of 128 for something like that and 700-plus runs. So, he was a major contributor to that series.”
Steve Smith loves to play the long innings in Test match cricket. Steve Smith has scored 7227 runs in his Test career thus far at an outstanding average of 62.84. In Australia, he averages 71.14 in 34 matches.
The Indian team has faced the brunt of his willow in the 10 Test matches he has played against them. The New South Welshman has amassed 1429 runs averaging a staggering 84.05 against the Indian attack.
Matthew Hayden Asks Indian Team To Be Wary Of Steve Smith
Matthew Hayden asked the Indian team to be wary of Steve Smith who missed 2018-19 Test series for a ban imposed on him as the latter will be like a wounded lion on the prowl.
“Sometimes, the wounded warrior is someone you need to be careful of.”
The burly southpaw reminded India that Steve Smith has already got the better of them in the preceding ODI series with a couple of match-winning centuries in first 2 ODIs. Steve Smith scored 105 in 1st ODI and followed it up by scoring 104 in 2nd ODI.
“We have already seen Smith come out in the ODI series and start to look to dominate India. He has got a couple of hundreds already. He has looked dangerous in that format of the game.”
Steve Smith. Image Credits: Twitter
Matthew Hayden concluded by highlighting that Steve Smith, much like Virat Kohli, has an insatiable appetite for runs as justified by his average of 62.84 in 73 Tests and 43.34 in 128 ODIs like Virat Kohli who averages above 50 in each of the three formats.
“And he will be hungry, a bit like Virat, there is no end to the size of their stomach when they start consuming runs. They really just love it.”
The visitors spearheaded by pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami would be keen to see him back in the pavilion early without scoring much in his innings, as he could prove to be the biggest stumbling block in their quest to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
