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India vs Australia: Batting with more finesse now is working for me, says Smith after match-winning knock
Steven Smith
Steven Smith, who produced a match-winning knock of 104 off 64 balls during Australia’s 51-run victory over India in the second One-Day International (ODI) on Sunday said that batting with a “bit more finesse” is working better for him
Steven Smith, who produced a match-winning knock of 104 off 64 balls during Australia's 51-run victory over India in the second One-Day International (ODI) on Sunday said that batting with a "bit more finesse" is working better for him.
After registering the third-fastest ODI century by an Australian in the first ODI, Smith scored a second consecutive century on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). On both occasions, Smith reached the 100-run mark off 62 balls.
David Warner and Aaron Finch once again gave Australia a flying start before Smith's century and his 156-run stand with Marnus Labuchagne for the third wicket put the hosts on track to a big score. Later on, Glenn Maxwell hammered four sixes and four fours in his explosive unbeaten knock of 63 from 29 balls as Australia reached 389 for 4 in 50 overs.
"I felt good from ball one. I got myself in and went hard. It was another great foundation set by Finchy and Davey. That enabled me and Maxi to go hard at the back end. It's just summing up conditions and what's in front of you. Against India, you need to score big totals. It was just about taking the game on. Fortunately, it's come off in the last couple of games.
I tried to whack the ball a bit too hard in the IPL, now I have started to hit the ball with a bit more finesse which is probably working better for me. I'm just playing nice cricketing shots. It (records) doesn't bother me, nice to score some runs again for the team and get us to a good total. The boys were outstanding in the field as well. The guys bowled really well and yeah, nice performance," said Smith at the post-match interview.
Heaping praise on his side's batting performance, Australia captain Finch termed it as "perfect".
"It was a perfect performance with the bat. There was no extra talk or game plan. Very pleased to wrap it up in two games and win the series. A quicker inninga from me would've been better, but it's a bit of a trade-off and I think we set the foundation. Smithy was incredible as usual, and Warner got it off the middle every time as well. Moises bowled really well defensively including his cutters, and as Virat said, we got a bit of a blueprint from Hardik, by taking the pace off the ball," added Finch after Australia's comfortable win at the SCG on Sunday.
After the third and final ODI on Wednesday, India and Australia will face off in a three-match Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) with the games set to take place on Dec. 4, 6, and 8. The third ODI and first T20I will be played in Canberra, while the second and third T20Is are set to be played in Sydney. The four-Test Border Gavaskar series is scheduled to begin on Dec. 17 at the Adelaide Oval, which will be Team India's first-ever overseas pink ball Test.
