Steve Smith
Australian batsman Steve Smith dares India's pacers to 'bring on short bowling'
Melbourne/UNI: Australian batsman Steven Smith has challenged India's pace attack to bring on the short bowling during much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Test series, saying that he has faced a lot of it in his life.
Smith said that trying short-pitched bowling against him could even work in Australia's favour.
'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,' Smith told News Corp.
'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,' he added.
In Australia's most recent Test series, against New Zealand in the 2019-2020 season, Neil Wagner produced a sustained short-ball attack to Smith and dismissed him four times with the short delivery - twice caught at square leg, once at leg gully, and once fending to the off-side gully.
However, the batsman still managed to average nearly 43 in the three matches. Though he did not score a century but he soaked up a lot of pressure for his team-mates by wearing down the bowlers.
'It’s no dramas for me. I just play the game and sum up the conditions, how they’re trying to get me out and being able to counter that,' Smith said.
The former captain acknowledged that Wagner executed it well, but others may not be able to replicate that.
'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 dow… everything is between your ribs and your head,' he said.
Notably, Steve Smith was not part of the previous series between India and Australia as he was serving his one-year suspension for the infamous ball-tampering scandal.
The Test series begins with the Day-Night Test at Adelaide from December 17.
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