Justin Langer hopeful that Steve Smith will become No.1 batsman in all three formats

Australia’s domination in the T20s in their home summer has extended in the ongoing series against Pakistan. And, one of the major reasons why the Men in Yellow have been doing pretty well in the shortest format of the game lately is because of the form of their dynamic top-3 in David Warner, Aaron Finch, and Steve Smith.

While the success of both Warner and skipper Aaron Finch are well documented in the shortest format of the game, Steve Smith’s name generally doesn’t come up in the same breath. And, there a reason behind it- Steve Smith’s mediocre International numbers: 577 runs in 35 T20Is at an average of 27.48 and strike-rate of 128.79.

But, the numbers really do not tell the complete story. While Smith has been a regular in IPL cricket, he has had a stop-start T20I career with him taking rest from the bilateral series to stay afresh for Test and ODI assignments. Before the Sri Lanka series, Smith hadn’t played a T20I game for Australia since the 2016 T20 World Cup fixture in Mohali against India.

‘Hopefully, he gets ranked one in all three formats’ – Justin Langer

But, in the past two series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Smith has shrugged off whatever notions people had about his T20 credentials. His 51-ball 80 in the second game against Pakistan was one of the best innings you’ll ever see in this format of the game; an innings that marries class with outrageous hitting. So-much-so that it has convinced head coach Justin Langer that Smith can become the No.1 T20I batsman in the world, though he feels there is still scope for improvement.

“Smith’s greatest strength is his ability to solve problems, whether it’s in Test cricket or T20 cricket. That’s where he’s so good at, the best players in the world do it. The best players adapt to white or red ball, or twenty-over or Test cricket. He played beautifully; we know how good a player he is. He loves batting, full-stop. He wants to be out there. I think Manuka Oval is an amazing cricket ground, it was a great batting wicket and Steve certainly took advantage.” Langer said to Cricket Australia.

The Aussie coach continued, “Hopefully, he gets ranked one in all three formats, I think he’ll be aspiring to do that. His Test series in England was incredible, his 90 (sic) in the semi-final of the World cup was incredible and the innings he played last night was sublime. He’s getting better and better which is greater for Australian cricket.”

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