Steve Smith showers praise on two Pakistan bowlers

Monitoring Desk

MELBOURNE: Australian batter Steve Smith has showered praise on two Pakistan bowlers, while speaking on cricket.com.au’s The Unplayable Podcast.

The former Aussie captain lauded the reverse swing of Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali, while talking about his inability to score hundreds during Test tour of Pakistan earlier this year.

The righter-hander passed fifty on three occasions out of four in the three-Test series but was unable to reach three figures.

“I probably had three opportunities to get hundreds in Pakistan, I just didn’t quite convert them,” Smith said. “I feel like my plans were in a pretty decent place, but I could’ve potentially been a bit more aggressive against the spin over there, and played a few more shots.

“But I was also batting at stages where the ball was reversing quite big and I know as a batter coming in next, it’s probably the toughest thing to face – a reversing ball on those kinds of wickets against some good bowlers in (Shaheen) Afridi and Hasan Ali.”

Smith also shed light on his batting plan as the ball got older during Test series against Pakistan.

“So, it’s playing the game and being patient and playing the tempo, which we spoke a lot about in Pakistan; against the new ball you can play a few more shots, like I did in the third Test when I got in a little bit earlier, and got some boundaries away early,” he said.

“But then when the ball gets a bit softer, it’s reversing, you have to rein it back in until you get your moment to go a bit more aggressive.

“But against the spin, I know I’ve got a few more shots that I can potentially bring out and put a bit more pressure back on the bowler.”