Steve Smith says despite being part of the number of options Australia tried to fill the big shoes of Shane Warne, he was always more of a batsman than a bowler. The Aussie great recalled how being initially dropped for his bowling gave him the clarity that he should try and become as good a batsman as possible to play for his country.

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"I was probably always more of a batsman than a bowler," Smith said in a video chat with New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi at the behest of his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals. "I got picked in certain teams as more of a bowler which was different. Obviously played my first two Test matches as a specialist spinner which was strange in a way."

Smith's Test debut in 2010 was a disappointing one as he struggled being a leg-spinner against a Pakistan side known for its strong ability in tackling spin. 

"They were looking for a spinner after the Shane Warne era and tried plenty of options in that time. Now we have got Nathan Lyon who is doing a terrific job but I was one of the 12 or 13 spinners that they tried. I got dropped after that and for me, I felt I can find a way back into the team through my batting. So at that point, I let my bowling slip away a bit."

He was dropped from the side before soon making a resounding comeback as a batsman, never to be left out again. "Before that, I was mixing and matching between batting and bowling and working on both in a session in the nets," said Smith. "Then it got to a point where, if a session is of three hours in the nets, I'd be doing probably two and half hours of batting."

"Obviously I had to find a method that worked for me as well, which takes time. I was still at stage playing in the middle-order for New South Wales. It takes time to build the confidence to keep doing it."

"Eventually, I got back into the team by scoring runs for New South Wales and sort of never looked back since then."

Smith is now arguably the best Test batsman of the modern-day game, with 7,227 runs at an average of 62.8, including 26 hundreds and proven record in all conditions. 

(Inputs from IANS)