Steven Smith banking on IPL experience for Australia's success at World T20
Australian skipper Steven Smith denied that his side were under added pressure to perform well at the World T20, but added that he was confident that his side which has a number of cricketers with IPL experience, will perform well at the tournament, Wisden India reports.
The World T20 is the only major ICC trophy missing from Australia’s cabinet and Smith admitted that it was a record that his side would look to set straight this time around.
“Traditionally we haven’t done as well as we would have liked in this format of the game. This is a tournament that has eluded us so we are here to try and win it,” said Smith. “We feel pretty settled, we have 15 guys who can give this tournament a pretty good shake.”
Smith is confident that his side have players with enough experience of the conditions in India to give their rivals a run for their money.
“We know what to expect from the conditions over here, a lot of us have played here before, either in IPL or against India so we know what to expect and we’re ready for the challenge,” he said.
Smith denied however that his team will be under the scanner, especially after the 3-0 whitewash they suffered against India earlier in the year.
“I don’t think there is any pressure. I think playing a World Cup, playing in international cricket, there is always lots of pressure. So for us it’s taking each game at a time,” he said.
Smith tips Adam Zampa, all-rounders to have a big impact for Australia at World T20
Steven Smith believes young leg-spinner Adam Zampa will have a key role to play for Australia in the slow, turning pitches of India. Having seen Zampa come through the ranks at his state side New South Wales, Smith admitted that knowing the player inside out will make his job of captaining the 23-year-old an easy one.
"Yeah I've seen him play for a long time now and I know his skill set pretty well so I think that does help a little bit when captaining someone you're pretty close to," Smith said, as reported by cricket.com.au. “I've seen him come along way and I've seen him learn and develop really well and hopefully he can bowl really for us in this World Cup. He's got a lot of variations. He reads the batsmen really well which I think is very important in this format of the game and he's very confident in his skill set.”
“I think he's improved a lot over the last couple of years. I thought he bowled beautifully in South Africa (the tour preceding the World T20) and I thought he bowled really well in the one-dayers he played in New Zealand as well,” Smith said.
The skipper remained tight-lipped about whether his side would be playing spinners Zampa and Ashton Agar in the same side.
“Obviously, we've got Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa here along with Glenn Maxwell who bowls spin as well so we've got plenty of options. It's just about summing it up on the day and what we expect from the wicket and the opposition,” Smith said.
Apart from the spinners, all-rounders like Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh and James Faulkner are also expected to be key for Australia, a fact Smith confesses readily.
"I think a lot of our allrounders are bowling extremely well at the moment which helps as well," he said. All of our allrounders are very powerful with the bat and that's what you need in T20 cricket. They're doing a good job for us and hopefully they can continue to do a good job for us in this tournament," he said.