Ashes 2025: Steve Smith Reveals Getting Mentally-Drained Quicker Than Before, Says 'I Am Pretty Cooked...'

Ashes 2025: Australia's former captain Steve Smith will be a key player for his side as the Ben Stokes-led England will try to challenge the Aussie 'hegemony' in the upcoming five-match Test series down under. Steve Smith, who has been involved in a lot of battles, on and off the field in his roller-coaster of a career, revealed that he gets drained quickly than before.

Smith, who recently hung up his boots from ODIs, has been Australia's batting mainstay for a long time in the red-ball format. Smith is likely to lead the side with regular captain Pat Cummins missing the first Test in Perth starting November 21.

As per a report in PTI, "Smith resides in New York during the Australian winter and has been away from the action since August.

"I certainly get drained mentally quicker than I've probably used to," Smith told reporters here after his first training session.

"Ten years ago, I loved to come back and play every single game that I could. Now obviously my Test cricket has taken a huge priority.

"I know that when I play a lot at the start, by the end of the summer I'm pretty cooked mentally and probably can't produce the same performances," Smith recalled his younger days.

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"Last year, I was probably batting my best at the back end of the summer against India, coming off not too much cricket at the start. Honestly, it takes me two hits to get sorted. I feel like I'm ready to go now," Smith said.

Smith has just started training but he feels he is in good nick.

"Honestly, it takes me two hits to get sorted. I feel like I'm ready to go now," Smith said.

For Smith, remaining mentally fresh is key to good performances than spending whole lot of time at the nets which he used to do when he was on the right side of 30s.

"There's obviously a balance, but I don't think it takes me much now to get up to game speed and I want to try and stay as mentally fresh. Technically, I feel in a good place, it's about being mentally fresh. I'm not hitting as many balls as I used to.

"It's to try and get the most out of myself mentally when I'm out in the middle and be able to concentrate for long periods of time."

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While he believes it is premature to talk about his future or whether he would travel to England for the 2027 Ashes, he does feel that stop-gap captaincy when Cummins is absent feels way more easier compared to the time between 2013-2017 when he was the full-time captain.

"It's interesting how the brain works. I feel like I kind of go to another level and try to set a standard, I suppose."