Tom Moody describes Steve Smith as a "caged lion"
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody has compared the under-fire Steve Smith with a "caged lion." According to Moody, Smith will be raring to have some runs under his belt in the ongoing Sydney Test.
Smith has recorded 1, 1 not out, 0, and 8 in the four innings until now in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ravichandran Ashwin has got him out twice with brilliant off-spin variations. Jasprit Bumrah has also won the much-anticipated battle once by bowling out the premier batter behind his legs.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Moody said Smith would be determined to remain in contention of the top-three batters in world cricket alongside Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.
"You have to look at his record, he (Steve Smith) is overdue, that doesn't give you any guarantees but what it tells us that there is a caged lion ready to burst out and there is no one more determined than him to make sure that he is scoring runs in the new year. There is always that talk between Williamson, and Kohli and Smith, so he will be very keen to make sure he remains in that conversation regularly," said Moody.
Steve Smith last crossed the three-figure mark in September 2019 against England in the Ashes. His dreadful form and Williamson's back-to-back double hundreds have propelled the latter to the top of ICC's rankings for Test batsman.
Steve Smith's record at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Steve Smith finds himself at his home terrain for the third Test against India. Among Australian grounds, Smith's average is the second-highest at the SCG - 67.89. In seven matches here, the 31-year-old has made over 600 runs, including two tons and five half-centuries.
He is yet to go past a Test match at the SCG without scoring a fifty. His highest score at the ground, 117, came against India in the 2014-15 edition of the bilateral series. Australia will look up to him to sustain the magnificent numbers and get out of the logjam.