Though Australia’s 2019-20 series against New Zealand was a comfortable victory for the hosts, it also featured some of the most difficult spells that Steven Smith has ever had to endure on his way to being regarded as the pre-eminent Test batsman.
Time and again, the irrepressible Neil Wagner zinged down precision bouncers at Smith, drastically slowing his scoring even as he played the supporting role in some critical partnerships with Marnus Labuschagne in particular. Never in his Test career had Smith scored as slowly as the strike rate of a little more than 34 runs per 100 balls he was corralled into by New Zealand, but ahead of his first Test match meetings with Jasprit Bumrah, he has challenged India to match Wagner’s unique array of skills.
Smith went as far as to say that resorting to a short-pitched attack was a form of “flattery’ in that it came with an effective admission that opponents have run out of either patience or method to dismiss him by more conventional means….