Steven Smith, the Australian batsman, has revealed that he suffered a “bad dose of vertigo” ahead of the second one-dayer against India — and was not sure of playing the second ODI in which he struck a series-clinching hundred.
Steven Smith’s quick-fire 62-ball-100, before being dismissed on 104 off 64 balls, propelled Australia to a mammoth 389 for four in the second ODI, which they defended easily to secure a decisive 2-0 lead in the ODI series.
Steven Smith Didn’t Even Know He Was Playing For Having Bad Dose Of Vertigo And Praised Team Doctor
Steven Smith had earlier scored 105 off 66 balls in the 1st ODI with the company of skipper Aaron Finch who scored 114 as Australia scored 374/6 to win by 66 runs. In the second ODI, Steve Smith scored his second successive ton.
However, the former skipper said he “didn’t look great there for a while”.
“I didn’t know I was playing today. I had a really bad dose of vertigo this morning and I was struggling until … I came down early to have a hit and a bit of a run around,” Smith told cricket.com.au after receiving his second successive Man of the match award.
“The doctor, I think he performed six Epley maneuvers on me this morning and got the crystals out of my ears and I was struggling for a bit,” he said.
“Just pleased to be able to get out here and play another good innings and help the team.”
Steven Smith shared a 138-run partnership with Marnus Labuschagne before Glenn Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 63 off 29 balls to take Australia to a formidable total, their second successive score in excess of 350.
Steven Smith Scores Century As All The Top 5 Batsmen Scores In Excess Of 50
Steven Smith also took a superb catch to dismiss Shreyas Iyer during Indian innings on Sunday.
Like the first ODI, where Australia managed 374/6 , the openers David Warner(83) and Aaron Finch(60) forged another century opening stand. Marnus Labuschagne too scored 70, and Glenn Maxwell remained unbeaten on 63 off 29 balls as Australia went on to score their highest ODI total against India breaking the 1st ODI record. India managed 338/9 in reply with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 89 and KL Rahul contributing with 76.
For the 3rd time, there were five 50 plus scores in ODI innings after Pakistan vs Zimbabwe in Karachi in 2008, Australia vs India in Jaipur in 2013 and Australia vs India in Sydney in 2020.
Steven Smith has scored five successive fifty-plus scores against India since 2019. In the 2019 World Cup, he hit 69. He followed that up with scores of 98 and 131 in January this year.
And now, after scoring two more tons, he has accumulated 507 runs in this phase at an average of 101.4. In 20 ODIs, he has racked up 1,116 runs against India at a staggering average of 65.64. The right-handed batsman has scored 676 runs at home against India averaging 75.11.