Test great Steve Smith understands his limitations better than anyone else in the world. He is aware he can't be muscling the ball for sixes as many others do in T20 cricket. Instead, the man is focussing on "placement and timing" to carve out a place for himself among Australia's mainstays in the shortest format of the game.
"If you look at my batting record in T20 internationals, it's not crash hot," he said after scoring a magnificent 51-ball 80 not out in Australia's seven-wicket win against Pakistan in the second T20I in Canberra on Tuesday (November 5). "I guess you have to bear in mind... (early in my career) I was batting No. 8 or 9, coming in and slogging, facing half a dozen balls tops."
Read Also: 2nd T20I- Steve Smith's amazing 80* takes Australia to 7-wicket win over Pakistan
"It's never easy so it's going to affect your record at some point. I don't doubt my ability. I know the tempos of the game ... and I've played a lot of (T20) cricket now."
"I may not be as strong as some of the other guys but I use placement and timing. The white ball usually flies off the bat particularly when it's brand new. If you're timing the ball well you get value for your shots most places."
While knocks like these help reaching there, Smith's long-term T20 ambition would be becoming as big a force to reckon with as he is in the other two formats, especially Test cricket.
"If you're chasing you weigh up the situation and what you need and what you need to go at, which bowlers you want to target and just work out the maths in your head and that's chasing."
"Batting first you have to sum up conditions and how the wicket is playing, what you think a good score is and who is in the opposition, all those sorts of things," Smith added. "I've played a lot of cricket now, I'm pretty experienced and my role in this team is to fix it if the top don't come off."
"They (the top order) have been exceptional in these games that we've played, Sri Lanka and the first one against Pakistan before we got washed out. They're pretty consistent up top so if they don't come off then it's up to me to fix it," he concluded.
(Inputs from cricbuzz)
