Steve Smith defends his captaincy

Steve Smith has defended his captaincy traits on the eve of his 100th match in ODIs after Michael Clarke criticised him. Australia will play against India in the second One-Day International of the series at Kolkata in Eden Gardens on Thursday. Smith would like to win his 100th ODI and level the series 1-1 before going to Indore for the third match.

India was struggling at 87/5 after opting to bat first in the first ODI in Chennai. The wrecker-in-chief Nathan Coulter Nile wasn’t brought back into the attack by Smith when Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni started to form the partnership. Both took the game away from Australia and helped India post 281 which proved to be a tall ask for the visitors in a rain-hit game.

I don’t think I’m in a bad place with my captaincy

Michael Clarke, his predecessor had criticised Smith’s captaincy not going for the kill after having India on the mat. He also heaped praises on him as a batsman and opined that he will finish as the highest scorer for Australia along with David Warner. “As a batsman, Steve Smith is right up there; I think he and Virat Kohli are the two best batsmen in the world right now. I think he and David Warner will be the highest scorers for Australia in this series. But I also think his captaincy is now being challenged,” the former Australian who is also the commentator for this series said.

However, Smith himself believes that he is not bad with his captaincy and is still learning in ODI cricket. “I don’t think I’m in a bad place with my captaincy. It was obviously a disappointing start to the series the other day but we’ve got another game tomorrow to try and turn things around. I’ve been batting at No.3 (in ODIs) for a while now. I had to find the right tempo of the game, whether it’s hitting fielders in the deep or knowing the right time to hit a boundary,” the 28-year-old skipper said in reply to Clarke’s criticism.

The second ODI is under an extreme shadow of clouds as the rain-gods have followed the teams. Eden Gardens was completely under the covers on Tuesday and the teams had to call-off their practice sessions. The rain has been predicted in the evening in Kolkata on Thursday as well and the fans might have to witness another curtailed match.