Ranchi wicket has played better than I thought: Steve Smith

Australia started and ended the day on a high. It went off with Steve Smith winning the toss and by the time the umpire dropped off the bails he was batting well over his hundred and unbeaten on 117 along with Glenn Maxwell who is batting on 82, his highest Test score. It didn’t come as easy as it would sound since the Indian bowlers did really well to give them three blows in the first session.

Smith’s 51-run partnership with Peter Handscomb and unbeaten 159-run stand with Maxwell has placed Australia in a pretty comfortable position at 299/4. The visitors made two changes in the squad with Pat Cummins coming in for Mitchell Starc and Maxwell for Mitchell Marsh. Their decision to field the spin bowling allrounder ahead of Marcus Stoinis paid off for them on the very first day.

He continued his tremendous batting form and overhauled the 5000-run milestone in Tests becoming the 3rd fastest to the mark behind two legends- Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar. He completed his 19th Test ton in the last session of the day and looked in no sort of trouble against the reverse swing of the Indian pacers either.

After the end of the day’s play, Smith interacted with Michael Clarke and was pleased with the effort they put up. “Obviously, 4 for 300, we will take it. Had to form a couple of partnerships. The wicket is a good one. We would need every run possible. Maxi played beautifully. Played nice and straight,” Smith said.

He further emphasized Maxwell’s effort that deserved mentions since he showed immense application, abundant patience, didn’t play a single foul shot and was really good against the Indian spinners. The skipper complimented his effort saying, “He stuck to his game plan. He hit the loose ball, that’s all you need to. He kept it simple. He has been batting really well in the nets. He got the opportunity and making the most of it. We need as many runs as we can on this track. I would be glad if I am still batting at this time of the day, tomorrow.”

Ahead of the Test match he wasn’t quite happy to see a black pitch on offer at Ranchi and termed it the worst he had seen in some time but as the day panned out and the wicket stayed true with its bounce and was good for batting Smith admitted that it was different from the first two pitches.

“This one hasn’t spun. The others two spun considerably. This one has played better than I thought. The consistency of bounce has been there, generally throughout the day. We can’t control the past. We moved on from it. We had to focus on Ranchi.” He added.

The Test match is poised in balance towards the Aussies but they know, they will have to convert it into a bigger score since India in the previous series against England twice bettered 400 plus totals in the first innings to win the Tests. “But tomorrow is going to be a crucial day for us. We would need as many runs as possible. 4 for 300 is something that we will take on day 1.” Smith concluded saying.