Australian batsmen Steven Smith, who is currently having a dream run with the bat in international cricket, has credited the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his success.
“It’s a great tournament to be involved in. I have to pay a lot of credit to the IPL for where I am today, particularly in one-day cricket.
“Playing in that tournament you learn a lot about yourself because you are playing every second day. You get faced with a lot of similar situations and if you don’t quite get the team over the line that day, you learn from it and face the same situation a couple of days later. I think it’s a great learning experience for any young cricketer.”
Smith played a total of 9 Tests in 2014 and scored 1146 runs at an awe-inspiring average of 81.85 with five centuries and four half-centuries. In ODIs too, he played 12 matches and scored 541 runs at a brilliant average of 49.18 with two centuries and three half-centuries. Such great performances throughout the year earned him the Allan Border Medal on January 27th and the Test and ODI player of the year award for Australia .