‘Toughest thing to face’ Smith recalls reverse swing on Pakistan tour

MELBOURNE: Former Australian captain Steve Smith recalled the ferocious reverse hit by Pakistani sprinters Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi, calling it “the hardest thing to face.”

On cricket.com.au’s ‘The Unplayable’ podcast, Smith recalled the challenges he faced amid Australia’s historic tour of Pakistan and praised Shaheen and Hasan’s swing.

“I was batting in stages where the ball was inverted quite a bit and I know as a next batsman it’s probably the hardest thing to face an inverted ball on those kinds of grounds against some good bowlers in [Shaheen] Afridi and Hasan Ali,” Smith stated.

The right-handed batsman further regretted his strategy in not converting his three fiftys into centuries and admitted he could have been a bit more aggressive against spin.

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

“It took me a while to understand the bowling swing in Pakistan. That’s why I couldn’t score centuries,” she maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that Smith scored 226 runs at an average of 56.5 over four innings, including three half centuries.

The right-handed hitter, however, was unable to rack up triple figures in a high-scoring series.

Australia’s touring team defeated Pakistan in the three match test series 1-0 by winning the last test in Lahore.

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