‘Felt a lot like the WTC Final’ - Smith opens up on partnership with Head and comeback century
The Australian talisman was back at his regal best as Australia dominated Day 2 proceedings against India in the third Border-Gavaskar series Test.
Having copped flak for a string of low scores with the bat in his recent outings, Steve Smith bounced back with a trademark ton against India in the Brisbane Test.
While the ton was his first in 24 Test innings - the previous having come against England in the Ashes last year - Smith believes he was ticking all the boxes over the past month in the lead up to the series.
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“It’s just nice to get to three figures, been a while,” Smith said at the end of the second day’s play.
“It’s been tricky, the first couple of games: had a couple of nice balls. Got strangled down the leg side in Adelaide. But I feel like I’ve been batting nice over the last month or so.
“Just sticking to my processes. Trusting that it’ll turn around. You need a bit of luck on these surfaces that we’re playing on at the moment. I think I got a bit of luck early on and, I guess, I made the most of it,” he added.
Resuming their first innings at 28/0 after a rain-marred opening day, Australia were handed early setbacks by Jasprit Bumrah, who removed both the openers in the first session. Nitish Kumar Reddy then got rid of Marnus Labuschagne as the hosts toiled three down at the score of 75.
Compiling 101 runs off 190 deliveries, Smith combined alongside Travis Head (152) to add 231 runs for the fourth wicket. A partnership that steered the game in Australia’s favor.
The 35-year-old sang praises of Head, who scored his second successive ton in the ongoing series, conceding he felt the latter’s innings was a flashback to last year’s ICC World Test Championship Final between these two teams.
“Obviously, had a great seat in the house to watch Travis go about his business again. It was a great partnership and it felt a lot like the World Test Championship Final in a way,” he said.
“The way he came out and just smacked it and I could sort of take a second fiddle and do my thing. It was a really good day.”
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Adding to the plaudits, Smith spoke of Head’s diverse range as a batter, which takes the fielders out of the equation.
“The way he is able to put the bowlers under pressure from the outset is quite incredible. He’s got an unbelievable eye, and the areas in which he scores, it’s tough to put fielders in those positions. You see them put the deep point out and stuff but he just finds ways to put it past them,” he said.
“He’s batting beautifully, he’s confident, it’s nice to get in a partnership with him because the scoreboard moves extremely fast. I was just in the sheds with him and he goes, ‘Geez, that went quick today.’ And I was like, ‘It did, it sure did’.”
Australia finished the second day on 405 and three wickets in hand.