Australia is being led by Steve Smith in the third Test of their Border-Gavaskar Trophy matchup with India. He took over as captain from Pat Cummins, who was absent due to his mother’s illness and was in Australia. Smith usually plays better when he is the captain, according to former India coach Ravi Shastri. Importantly, Smith had previously led Australia until being relieved of the captaincy following a ball-tampering incident in South Africa.
“Firstly, whenever I have seen Smith captain the side, he’s been a different batter, a better batter. The responsibility of captaincy seems to bring that different kind of mindset. His concentration levels seem far higher, and you just have to look at his batting average as captain. It is outstanding. He is one of those players who thrive on the extra workload of leading the side,” Shastri wrote in his column for The Age.
“India will be aware that someone like Smith somewhere down the line in this series will come well. He showed glimpses in Nagpur, but then Ravichandran Ashwin got the better of him twice in Delhi. However, a player of his pedigree would have realized that he can correct what hasn’t worked for him so far. And there are few better than him to make that slight correction count with a big score.”
Shastri went on to write that Smith’s understanding of cricket in India is better than Cummins’. “He understands the tempo of cricket in India better than Cummins would have. There have been times in this series where the inexperience of Cummins as captain in these conditions came through rather evidently. And it has hurt Australia,” he wrote.