India decimated Australia in their second warm-up game before the main phase of the T20 World Cup and Australia’s experienced batsman Steve Smith was full of praise for the men in blue.
He rated the Indian side very highly and said that they back a punch having all the bases covered in the squad. Also, he pointed out that their players are familiar with the conditions in the UAE and Oman having played almost two seasons of the Indian Premier League at the same venues where the world cup will be played.
“They’re a terrific side, they’ve got all bases covered and some serious match-winners in there,” Smith said of India. They’ve obviously been playing in these conditions during the last couple of months with the IPL so they’ll be used to that.”
Smith was the top-scorer from the Australian side while rebuilding the innings after they struggled at the top with David Warner, captain Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh leaving a lot to be done by the middle order.
He led Australia’s revival by forging partnerships with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis and now feels “good and ready to go” in the tournament. He is counting on the time spent in the nets during the IPL 2021 as one of the factors that helped him get used to the conditions before the world cup.
“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 and Maxi were obviously important,” Smith said.
“I feel good and ready to go now. 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.”
Australia will start their campaign with the clash against South Africa in the first game of the Super 12 round of the tournament.