Australia head coach Justin Langer recently said to cricket.com.au that former Australia captain Steve Smith reminds him of the legend Sachin Tendulkar after watching his game in Brisbane. Smith scored an unbeaten 89 and 91 against New Zealand XI before they departed for the upcoming ICC World Cup. It is expected that he will play the key role for his side in the mega event.
“Last week in Brisbane, (Smith) batted beautifully, he played an unbelievable shot off Nathan Coulter-Nile there – it was like watching Sachin bat. He’s in pretty good shape I think,” cricket.com.au quoted Langer, as saying. “(I) watched Steve Smith batting against New Zealand in those three practice games, he’s literally a master of the game, so it’s nice to have him back. He loves batting – he’s shadow batting on the sand, he’s shadow batting in the shower – I’m not joking,” he added.
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However, Smith’s form will be crucial in the upcoming big event.
“There’s a lot of talk about batting now in white-ball cricket, but our bowling is absolutely critical. In T20, it’s absolutely critical and the same in ODI cricket. You’re going to have pretty thick skin to do well in international cricket, particularly on the flatter wickets and the fast outfields and the big squares we play on in England. They’re going to have to have thick skin, but they’re physically and mentally tough, and they’ll be ready for it,” he said.
Australia is the most successful team as they won the World Cup in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015. Moreover, Langer further shared that they will try to perform well.
“When everyone says we’ve got to start playing like England or start playing like New Zealand or start playing like India, no – we’ll keep playing like Australia because we’ve won four of the past five World Cups and that’s something to be proud of. The boys are aware of it and we know if we stick to the Australian way of playing great cricket… history has shown we’ll be pretty good,” Langer said.
Also read: Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard named as reserve players for the World Cup
Australia will face England and Sri Lanka in the warm-up games on May 25 and 27 before they start their original World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on June 1 at the Bristol County Ground.
