Former Australian captain and the star batsman of the team, Steve Smith has issued a warning to Indian pace bowlers that testing him with a barrage of short balls won’t disturb his batting tempo and concentration. Smith has stated that targeting him with the short stuff will rather put bowlers’ bodies under too much pressure. He added that he has played a lot of short balls in his career and it did not perturb him too much.
"If teams are trying to get me out like that it's probably a big benefit for the team because it takes a lot out of people's bodies if you continually bowl short. "I've faced a lot of short bowling in my life and I haven't had too many stresses with it. I suppose we'll just wait and see," Smith was quoted as saying by News Corp.
However, Smith acknowledged the skills of New Zealand's pacer Neil Wagner who masterfully executed the short ball plan against him and got him out on four occasions in the last series between Australia and New Zealand in 2019-20.
"I mean, a few different oppositions have tried it and they've certainly found it more difficult to (execute it) the way Wagner did. He's got an amazing skill set where his speeds go up and down... everything is between your ribs and your head," Smith added.
Smith’s statement should come as no surprise to the Indian team which takes pride in hostile bowling and it’s unlikely that Smith’s words would discourage Virat Kohli’s men from targeting him with the short balls, if at all that is part of some specific tactics for Steve Smith.
Steve Smith did not feature in the last Border-Gavaskar trophy which India won 2-1 in Australia but Kohli and his men would be wary of Smith's prowess in the longest format and necessarily the record he has against the Indian team. In the 20 innings of 10 Test matches he has played against India, he has piled on 1429 runs with a Bradmanesque average of 84.06 with the help of seven centuries and three half-centuries.
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