Graeme Smith drops in with valuable inputs at South Africa's net session

Former South African skipper Graeme Smith, who is also part of the elite panel of commentators for the ongoing Champions Trophy, dropped in at South Africa’s training session at London, ahead of their all-important match against the Indians on Sunday.

The last two matches in Group B is supposed to be viewed as virtual quarter-finals as the winners between India-South Africa fixture and Pakistan-Sri Lanka, progress into the semi-finals. Currently, all four sides are locked in at two points winning one and losing one.

Indians have a superior run-rate as compared to the rest of the teams in the group. Therefore they remain on top of the group.The last two matches in Group B surprised one and all in the cricketing fraternity as both the favourites went on to lose the match against the underdogs. The match between Sri Lanka and India opened up the group interestingly.

Smith tries to replicate Sangakkara

However, Graeme Smith followed the trend set previously by the former captains visiting their respective teams for providing their valuable inputs. Much like former legendary wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara visited his Sri Lankan team yesterday, Graeme Smith joined the South African players to share his expertise.

Sri Lankan Angelo Matthews himself admitted the contribution of Sangakkara for providing valuable inputs to the likes of Kusal Mendis & co. , which worked wonders for the team. With the same intention, Smith made his presence felt for 35 minutes in the nets of Lord’s while speaking to head coach Russell Domingo and other members of the staff.

Proteas batting coach Niel McKenzie came out to state that his opinions serve as gold for the players in the South African cricket team. “Obviously, Graeme has his opinions. He has been a great captain for South Africa and his inputs ahead of India match is invaluable for the boys. It’s always nice to have Graeme around and have this kind of support away from home.” quoted McKenzie according to TOI.