Marnus Labuschagne blames lack of red-ball cricket as a reason for Steve Smith's poor form
Steve Smith's teammate Marnus Labuschagne has attributed lack of red-ball cricket as the reason behind the former's slump in form in the ongoing Test series against India. Smith has only managed to accumulate 10 runs in 4 Tests innings, with the Indian bowlers gaining an upper hand over the Australian star.
While Steve Smith took part in the limited-overs series against India and IPL 2020 before that, Labuschagne indicated that lack of practice with the red ball might have hampered Steve Smith's preparation.
"He has not scored a lot of runs, he has played a lot of white-ball cricket, and he hasn't probably has had much time against the red ball as he would have liked, but that's the reality of cricket in this COVID situation," said Labuschagne.
The writing appeared to be on the ball for India when Steve Smith smashed two 62-ball centuries in the ODI series which Australia won 2-1. However, the Indian bowlers have certainly done their homework on the star batsman, and so far they have managed to keep him quiet.
Steve Smith wants to be a bit more aggressive
Steve Smith has had a fascinating encounter with Ravichandran Ashwin in the ongoing Test series. So far Ashwin has come out on top as he has dismissed Smith twice, once getting him to edge on to slip and the other time forcing him to guide a ball to leg slip.
The Aussie star indicated that he would have to be aggressive and show more intent against the Indian off-spinner. After the defeat in the second Test, Smith had said -
"I've sort of let him(Ashwin) dictate terms, and that's something I've probably never let any spinner do in my career. I should have sort of taken it to them, been a bit more aggressive and made them change things,"
Steve Smith's intentions look clear ahead of the third Test as he clearly wants to be a bit more positive in the middle against Ravichandran Ashwin. We will soon find out whether that will work or not when the two teams resume their rivalry in Sydney for the Third Test.