Despite being a renowned Test cricketer, Steve Smith has struggled to replicate his success in the shorter format, often finding it challenging to maintain a decent run rate. During Thursday’s match against India, his teammate, Josh Inglis, unintentionally ended Smith’s lackluster innings.
India chose to bat first on a favorable pitch in Visakhapatnam, and Australia managed a modest powerplay score of 40/1, with Steve Smith struggling at one end. However, Josh Inglis took charge and put the Indian bowlers under pressure. Despite Inglis’ impressive performance, Smith’s slow scoring rate remained a concern.
After forming a 130-run partnership for the second wicket, Inglis unintentionally ended Smith’s frustrating innings in a comical manner. In the penultimate ball of the 16th over, Steve Smith mistimed a pull shot towards short fine leg off Mukesh Kumar’s delivery, causing him to lose his balance. Meanwhile, Inglis, eager to regain strike, sprinted towards the striker’s end.
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Upon realizing Inglis’ position, Steve Smith gathered himself and obliged his teammate by rushing towards the bowler’s end. However, his dismissal was almost inevitable as Mukesh collected the ball and flicked it onto the stumps, sending Smith back to the pavilion. Inglis’ call for a run, which resulted in Smith’s dismissal, led to sarcastic accusations from some fans, who alleged that the wicket-keeper batter did so intentionally to increase the scoring tempo for Australia.
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India’s decision to include five left-handers in their top seven has raised eyebrows, with Shivam Dube the unfortunate one to miss out on the XI.
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India’s Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna
Australia, on the other hand, has opted to rest key players from the World Cup, including Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, and Travis Head.
Australia’s Playing XI: Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (c & wk), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha
