• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Australia's star batter Steve Smith has opened up on letting go of one of his favorite things, which was shadow batting as Indua's star pacer Mohammed Shami had bowled a full toss delivery during the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal and thus dismissed Smith. During an interview he reckoned that he hadn't 'hit a' ball' post that dismissal ahead of the WTC final against South Africa, which would be held at Lord's next week.

Smith got out after scoring 76 runs off 96 balls during the 37th over and that was a turning point during that match. The Aussies posted a respectable target of 264 runs, which the Rohit Sharma-led side during the 49th over with the three wickets remaining. Smith then announced his retirement in the 50-over format and since then has been spending time in New York, where he was working on his fitness and stayed away from T20I franchise leagues and also didn't play in domestic cricket.

“I’d normally have a bat laying around the house somewhere and just pick it up and do a bit of shadow batting and stuff. But I made a conscious decision to try and just let it go for a while. It was good. I hadn’t hit a ball since I missed a full toss-off Mohammed Shami in the Champions Trophy. Fortunately, everything sort of clicked into place immediately. I feel like I’m moving well, I feel strong and just ready to get into it now. Normally, how it works is my first hit’s good, my second hit’s awful, and then I’d get better from there. But both hits were just good and I was like, hopefully, it doesn’t turn around now and I don’t have to spend hours in the nets the next couple of days," Smith was quoted as saying to ESONCricinfo.

ALSO READ: Star India Cricketer Rinku Singh Gets Engaged To MP Priya Saroj In Lucknow | See Pics

He also talked about how Michael Hussey impacted his career with 'less is more' philosophy, which he told to him when he was going through his lean patch ahead of the five-match Test series against India.

“We’re a bit older, we’ve hit a lot of balls. It’s about having that mental side as switched on as it can be for the big moments. And you don’t want to use up all your energy in the nets. There’s a fine balance, of course. I’m someone that needs to feel prepared" he said.

“And I don’t want to leave any stone unturned in my preparation so that when I go to the middle, I’m ready to play. But I’ve also got to realize that the older you get, the mental side I think probably wears a little bit thinner on you. And you’ve got to try and be in the best space you can be in the middle to bat for long periods. Sometimes I might get the balance wrong. But when you’re hitting the ball well, you can sort of do what you want in terms of your preparation in a way. You can just let it be and trust that when you get to the middle, it’s all going to be okay," he concluded.