Michael Vaughan and Allan Border were left unimpressed by Steve Smith’s knock on Day 2 of the Brisbane Test on December 15, Sunday. Smith has come into the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the back of a poor run of form as he struggled in the first 2 matches.
Smith would come in to bat in the 19th over right after Jasprit Bumrah struck twice early in the morning. However, the Aussie star batter looked unconvincing in his knock as he had a few close calls and was being beaten by the Indian pacers. He survived 2 leg before wicket shouts during his innings. First, he refused to offer a shot to Mohammed Siraj and was saved by umpire’s call. Then, he had a small nick off Akash Deep’s delivery.
Vaughan noted that Smith wasn’t at his best as he was struggling to dispatch deliveries he would usually do when in form.
“This shot makes me think he is nowhere near his best. When he is batting well he is smashing that through mid-wicket for four,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
Border wasn’t convinced by Smith’s constant changes in technique after his initial approach in the series failed. The Aussie legend claimed that he hasn’t seen anyone make so much changes to their approach. Border was baffled that Smith has already tried 3 or 4 different methods already in the series.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen anyone fiddle around so much with different techniques. We’re talking the third Test match and he’s tried three or four different methods already… that’s different to most. I don’t know many players who have done that type of tinkering with their technique,” Border said on Fox Cricket.
Smith would go into lunch on Day 2 scoring 25 off 68 balls and hitting just one boundary. 2024 hasn’t been a great year for the star batter as he has scored just 257 runs in 8 matches so far at an average of 25.70.
