Australian captain Steven Smith recently won the Allan Border Medal, the most prestigious individual prize in Australian cricket. It was the second time when the Australian right-handed batsman achieved the medal.

Steven Smith spent the year 2017 amazingly with the bat. He scored total 1,754 runs in international cricket with 64.96 batting average. Apart from winning the Allan Border Medal, Smith also won the Test Player of the Year for his brilliant batting in that format in 2017, where he scored 1,305 runs in 11 innings with the average of 76.76.

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After the Allan Border night, Smith said that he never played to win the awards, rather, he played to help his team for victory. The Australian captain said, “It has been a pretty busy year in every sense of the word. I am pleased that I can be sitting here today, to be recognised for what I have done over the year. I don’t play for these kind of awards. I play to try and help the team win and stand up as the leader of the side. It has been challenging and I am proud of the way I have accomplished a few things.”

Smith also mentioned that scoring a second innings century on the Indian soil gave him an incredible confidence. The 28-years old right-handed batsman quoted, “Scoring a second innings hundred in India against some quality spinners gave me incredible confidence. Also the determination of a few innings in the Ashes – Brisbane and in Melbourne. Whenever I feel like my mind is going off the job, I recognize it and quickly get it back to where it needs to be.”

Also read: Steve Smith Was Exhausted After The Ashes 2017-18

Steven Smith is not taking the part in the ongoing T20I tri-series between Australia, New Zealand and England. His next important series is coming up in the upcoming March when Australia will play on the South African soil for the 4-match Test series.