Former Australian spin bowling coach Sridharan Sriram believes Steve Smith enjoys leading the Australian team and reckoned Steve Smith is always aware of the conditions as he played a lot of cricket in the Indian conditions for Australia and the Indian Premier League.
Former Tamil Nadu All-rounder Sridharan Sriram, who has played a vital role in grooming Australian spinners and their batters to play spinners better in sub-continental conditions, spoke about Steve Smith‘s captaincy and his proactive captaincy approach against India.
“Smith is enjoying his captaincy. He is a very experienced batter, having led Australia before. That experience has come in handy on this tour. Plus, having toured India several times in the past he is aware of the conditions and leading from the front,” Sriram said.
Steve Smith was named the captain of the Australian Team in the absence of their regular skipper Pat Cummins who missed out due to ODI Series due to the loss of his beloved mother. Steve Smith took over the Captaincy in the third test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy and has impressed everyone with his captaincy style against India.
Sridharan Sriram, who has seen Mitchell Starc from the close quarters, hailed Starc for his fantastic bowling against India in the ODI series. Starc was very impressive for Australia and has so far picked by 8 wickets, including his match-winning 5-wicket haul in the 2nd ODI.
“He also knows what angles the bowlers will bowl and sets the field accordingly. Plus, he is a brilliant fielder and an asset to any side, Smith knows how to handle Starc. Starc will once again be a thorn in the flesh of the India top-order. On his day, it will be difficult to play him as he is accurate and can swing the ball with a lively pace,” he added.
Australian team has been very impressive in the first two matches of the ODI series. With only 189 runs to defend in the 1st ODI, Australia bowled very well to dismiss the Indian top-order, then KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja stitched a terrific partnership to take India home and in the 2nd ODI Australia were all over India completely dominating and winning the match by 10 wickets.
Steve Smith Will Do Things As Per Flow Of The Game – Sridharan Sriram
Sridharan Sriram, who is currently part of Royal Challengers Bangalore as their Spin bowling coach, Steve Smith always loves the important matches and added that the Australian team will play the third ODI according to the conditions.
“The score is 1-1. Smith is not a person to be carried away by all these talks. He knows his job. He understands that beating India in India is always tough. He will watch and do things as per the flow of the game, keeping in mind the situation,” he concluded.
Australia will take on India in the final ODI on Thursday in Chennai as the series is levelled up 1-1 the third match will decide the fate of the series.