27 Oct World Cup 2023: Steve Smith reveals how he roared back to with 69-ball 71 in Delhi – ‘I had a smile on my face’
Former Australia captain Steve Smith has revealed about the adjustments he made to roar back to form in the ongoing World Cup 2023. Smith scored 46 runs against India in the opening match for Australia before getting out for 19, 0 and 7 in his next three outings.
The star batter has said that in the nets he took a leg-stump guard and also held the bat from the higher end of the handle. Smith reckoned that he observed that his hands have dropped from the usual position.
“I moved back to the leg stump a little bit. I got my hands a little bit higher than what they’ve been for the last week. For some reason, they’ve dropped down a bit. I just felt it in the nets yesterday and everything sort of clicked back into place again,” he said after Australia beat the Netherlands by a record 309-run margin. Smith revealed that he felt like immediately getting his mojo back after making the small adjustments. He added that with scores of 41, 0 and 74 in the preceding ODI series against India, the form was on his side and he just needed to get his rhythm back.
“I felt like I was batting well a couple of weeks back against India. I thought I was actually getting back through the ball nicely on a pretty tough surface and playing well and then for a week kind of lost it for a bit. I got a couple of nice balls, I suppose the one that swung back and got me out, and (Kagiso) Rabada’s, which was a little questionable. I felt like I’ve been batting really well. I just needed to get the feel again and batting yesterday at the nets straight away I had a smile on my face at the back end. I felt good and took that into today and felt nice. I thought I was getting good positions today and yeah, hopefully that continues,” Smith further said.
Steve Smith appeared to be in good form and on track to reach his 13th One Day International (ODI) century. However, his innings was cut short when he was dismissed for 71 runs off 68 balls. The dismissal came from a sharp catch by Roelof van der Merwe, who was fielding at backward point. Smith’s innings included nine boundaries (fours) and a six, indicating that he was playing some attacking and fluent shots during his stay at the crease. Scoring 71 runs is a valuable contribution in an ODI, and it’s likely that his innings played an important role in the match or series where it occurred.
“Yeah, it (hundred) would have been nice. I felt I was batting well. It was a nice partnership obviously with David and we were able to set it up for the guys to have a smack at the back end and get us up near 400 so,” Smith said.
David Warner, the Australian opener, equalled the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most centuries in ODI World Cups. This indicates his prowess in World Cup tournaments. Australia piled up a massive score of 399/8 in their 50 overs. Such a high team total suggests a dominating batting performance by the Australian team. The match’s outcome shows that the Netherlands team faced a tough challenge, as they were bundled out for only 90 runs. This indicates the dominance of the Australian bowlers in the match. After this match, Australia was placed fourth in the ODI World Cup standings. Winning three out of five matches is a solid start in a competitive tournament like the World Cup.
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