You shouldn’t get out if the ball is not hitting the stumps: Smith

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) A lot has been said about Steve Smiths batting technique with the likes of Rashid Khan also copying it on social media. In a podcast by Rajasthan Royals, skipper Smith has finally spoken about his unorthodox technique to New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi.

Talking about his stance and technique, Smith said: “It depends on who’s bowling, how is the wicket playing, how I gonna score and stuff like that or how people are trying to get me out, probably that determines how open I am or otherwise how closed I am.

“But my general stance where my back foot is going to almost off stump, or may be even outside at stages, I know that anything outside my eyeline isn’t hitting the stumps,” he said.

“For me, you shouldn’t get out if the ball is not hitting the stumps, so that is just a trick from me when I first started doing it, just limiting the ways I get out,” he explained.

The former Australia skipper also spoke about how taking an off-stump guard helps him leave the ball around the fourth and fifth stump, often also called the channel of uncertainty.

“Sometimes, I get trapped in front but I’m okay with that at stages, knowing that if it is outside my eyeline, I don’t need to try and play the ball, I can just leave that,” he said.

Having served a captaincy ban for his involvement in the Sandpaper Gate fiasco, Smith is now eligible to lead the side, but current Test skipper Tim Paine has said that he isn’t the sole contender for the job.

“We’ve got a number of guys to choose from who can put their hand up. There’s Steve Smith, who’s done it before, or the people who are developing underneath like a Travis Head or an Alex Carey — Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins are other ones.

“We’re starting to build some real depth so that when my time’s up we’ve got a number of options,” Paine told reporters.

–IANS

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