Australia batter Steve Smith heaped praise on the Indian cricket team after they crushed the Aussies by eight wickets in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 warm-up game on Wednesday (October 20) in Dubai.
India defeated Australia by eight wickets in their second warm-up game, thanks to brilliant performances from Rohit Sharma (60), KL Rahul (39), Suryakumar Yadav (38), and R Ashwin (2/8). Well, Smith also scored a brilliant knock of 57 off 48 balls in the game, but it could not save the game for Australia.
After the match, Smith termed Team India a “terrific side” with some serious match winners and they have got all bases covered going into the ICCT20 World Cup 2021.
As reported by Sydney Morning Herald, Smith said: “They're a terrific side; they have got all bases covered and some serious match winners in there. They've obviously been playing in these conditions during the last couple of months with the IPL so they'll be used to that.”
He shared a 61-run partnership with the in-form Glenn Maxwell (37), as well as added 48 runs with Marcus Stoinis (41*) to drag the score beyond 150 for Australia against India.
On his own show, the right-hander said: “It was nice to spend a bit of time in the middle again. It's never easy when you're three down. You have to rebuild for a period there and I thought we did that pretty well. The partnerships with Stoin (Marcus Stoinis) and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) were obviously important.”
Before the second leg of the IPL 2021 in the UAE, the former Australian captain missed the West Indies and Bangladesh tours due to an elbow injury, but now is feeling “good and ready to go now” having played two games for the Delhi Capitals in the tournament.
Smith signed off by saying, “I haven't obviously played too many games with the IPL but I've spent a lot of time in the nets and getting used to the conditions, which has been nice.”
(With PTI Inputs)
