Australia vs India – Short stuff no weakness for Steven Smith


Steven Smith will don’t have any issues whether the Indian bowlers try to attack him with short-pitch bowling in both the limited-overs and Test series, according to Australia’s assistant coach Andrew McDonald.

Smith himself has encouraged India to pepper him in Test cricket but McDonald thinks they may polite try it in the limited-over series as polite.

He was once concussed by Jofra Archer in final year’s Ashes and due to this fact targeted by New Zealand’s Neil Wagner final summer but he also missed Australia’s most recent ODI series in England because of a concussion he suffered in the nets.

Smith had a lean IPL by his standards for Rajasthan Royals, where McDonald was once his coach. He scored 311 runs in 14 innings with three half-centuries. Ten of his 12 dismissals came against pace bowling, with Pat Cummins dismissing him twice, while Jasprit Bumrah, Anrich Nortje, and James Pattinson also got him cheaply.

“I don’t believe it’s in truth a weakness,” McDonald said. “I think they are taking a shot at that area to receive him out early and then what you’ll be able to see after that initial potential plan, they’ll go to a more standard plan to check out and negate the runs.

“I think they have used it before and as I’ve said he is done polite before so I’m suggesting that plan hasn’t necessarily worked to its full effect. I realize in the Test match he had that moment with Archer where it got him but relating to coming back off that he was once in a position to score runs. Even in one-day cricket he was once in a position to score and in T20 cricket he is been in a position to score runs with that plan being adopted by opponents. I don’t necessarily see it as a weakness but they are able to retain approaching that way whether they would like.”

McDonald cited Australia’s final ODI series against India in January where Smith made scores of 98 and 131.

“They had a lucid plan early on in the innings where they had a leg gully, a deep square, and a man deep in front of square and everyone up on the offside in the powerplay,” McDonald said.

“That’s a tactic that they have used before and as I said it’s probably to negate the runs that he scores and take a look at and give themselves the most efficient possibility to potentially get him out in that area. But he was once in a position to combat that in India final time. He got a magnificent 131 in the final ODI at Bangalore and he made a remarkable contribution at Rajkot. But he is had that before and he is worked his way through it and I see this series as being no different in the way that he approaches.”

McDonald is currently having a look after the small group of players who have returned to Australia from the IPL in a quarantine hub in Sydney, with the assistance of Ricky Ponting who has been seconded by Cricket Australia to coach all the way through the quarantine. The Australian government’s strict quarantine rules on international travellers intent the players and coaches can only leave their hotel room for three-and-a-half hours a day to train at Blacktown, with nets and centre-wickets being made to be had, before spending the remainder of the time in isolation until their mandatory 14-day quarantine ends on Thursday ahead of the opening ODI against India on Friday.

Aaron Finch looks back to see his stumps disturbed BCCI

McDonald said each and every player had been in a position to work on an individual program in the first week, with some players opting to put rest for a week while others opted for high volume training depending on how they fared in the IPL.

McDonald was once also unperturbed by captain Aaron Finch‘s form. Finch was once dropped by Royal Challengers Bangalore all the way through the IPL for fellow Australian Josh Phillippe, who was once left out of the ODI and T20 squads but has been training with the group in quarantine.

“He definitely struggled a little bit in the IPL,” McDonald said. “I think he is got his game back under keep watch over. He is building nicely to the game on the 27th. There’s a few little things that he is working on in the final couple of weeks to be sure that he can rectify that potential lack of form in the IPL. They are little technical things and mindset things that he at all times defaults back to, to build into series.

“If you end up in a tournament every now and then you aren’t getting that time to receive absent from it and rebuild it a little bit so I think these two weeks, for players who probably didn’t have the IPL that they wanted to have, gives them a little bit of time to breathe and go back and work on the key focus points in a training surroundings where there aren’t as many pressures and stresses. I think he is making some good gains there and I think he’s going to be correct.”


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