Steve Smith, Australia’s stand-in skipper, issued a clarification after his snide remark about the Indian pitches that instantly drew the attention of the media and what followed thereafter is simply flak and vitriol. However, the Aussie captain seems unfazed in the face of pressure and hatred and the way he responded was nothing short of remarkable as well.
With Pat Cummins still out of the contention, it will be Smith who will be leading the Australian forces against India at Ahmedabad. Speaking to the reporters, he clarified his earlier remark, underlining what was his exact meaning when he talked about the Ahmedabad surface.
In the pre-match conference, Smith said, “We’ll have a look (at the pitch on Wednesday) and we’ll reassess, but it could be we name the team at the toss.” Ideally, it is just a reference at the fact that they may go all guns blazing with four spinners or it can be a shuffle between three spinners and an additional pacer.
He further added, “It’s been weird with a bit of the commentary back home, people talking about us playing three quicks and one spinner. It’s kind of mind-boggling to me when we look at these surfaces and we see what we’ve had – 11 innings in six days or something like that. Spinners have taken the bulk of the wickets and you see how difficult it is to play the spin. It’s kind of odd to hear that kind of commentary. But we’ve had faith in what we’re trying to do and it’s good that we are able to show that we can play with three spinners and win.” The tweet that also created the chaos, read, “I think I’ve been misunderstood here. I was talking about commentary from back home about playing 3 quicks on the prior surfaces as mind-boggling. We will look and see if we think this surface is the same or not.”
