Loss In Sri Lanka Was The Wake Up Call – Steven Smith

Mar 24, 2017 at 5:14 PM

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Loss In Sri Lanka Was The Wake Up Call – Steven Smith

Ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been so intense that even if Australia go on to lose the final Test at Dharamshala, it will be counted as a productive tour for them. Keeping in mind their dubious track record in India, they were expected to play a spineless brand of cricket, which they did in 2013 and lost without any bit of fight.

 

But something profusely dramatic happened on this tour, as the Kangaroos took the Indians head on with a broad chest. A stunning victory at Pune, where the pitch was nothing short of a minefield stunned everyone to bits. To add to that, the defiance displayed on the final day at Ranchi to save the game was another instance of this young Aussie side coming of age.

 

On the eve of the fourth Test, skipper Steven Smith credited the side’s tour of Sri Lanka, as a complete turnaround and a “wake up call”. “I learned a lot out of Sri Lanka when we lost there, just about playing in the subcontinent and leading in the subcontinent,” Smith said. “I had a reasonable idea before I went to Sri Lanka of how I wanted to do things, how I wanted to do thing a lot differently and didn’t want to over-attack and things like that.”

 

“I think you can see it in the way that you have to play here. You can’t attack non-stop. You have to have defensive fields at times and people are going to be critical at that but they’re not the ones out in the middle that have to do the job. I know that if you get a bit defensive on occasions and build a bit of pressure. “Back home when you’re talking about building pressure you talk about maiden overs but here it’s more if you go for two an over it’s pretty good over. It’s very hard to contain the scoreboard. If you’re limiting the boundaries, keeping the runs down and building the pressure that you need it makes a big difference,” Australia’s only century maker of the series added.

 

The record breaking batsman maintained that the momentum was with the Kangaroos after they earned a hard fought draw at Ranchi. “I thought the way we fought out that draw was magnificent. I’m sure India would be disappointed that they couldn’t get the result they were after. In that regard I’d rather be in our boat than theirs.”

 

“If you look at past sides that have come here recently that day five result we had the other day where we were able to play out the draw, that’s just ended pretty quickly for us on a few occasions where we’ve just rolled over,” Smith added. “Having the fight and willingness to work hard to get the results we’re after, it’s been great from the boys.

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