“If Steve Smith Was Indian, His Batting Technique Would be Accepted” – Trent Woodhill

Former Australia captain Steve Smith has been doing wonders since his return to the international cricket. Recently he has amassed 774 runs in the recently concluded Ashes. He has some unconventional batting technique, by which he can dominate bowlers across the globe.

However, Smith has faced many questions for his unorthodox batting style. In fact, his formative coach Trent Woodhill said if Smith was an Indian, his unconventional styles would be accepted without any question.

“If Steven was Indian, his technique and mechanics and the strategy around his batting would just be accepted,” Woodhill was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo. “We see Kohli, Gavaskar, (Rohit) Sharma, Ganguly, Sehwag – all these players have unique techniques. The Indian system is all about output, about scoring runs, ‘We don’t care how you do it as long as you do it’, whereas in Australia we wanted you to score well and we wanted you to look good.”

Smith has dominated the Ashes series by scoring a huge 774 runs at an average of more than 110, including three centuries and as many fifties. However, his unique style of batting, especially while leaving deliveries, was discussed by the cricket fraternity. Woodhill, however, wasn’t too happy with those.

“Young players need protection from both themselves and others who don’t like difference. A cricket dressing room can be a brutal place for a young player, who might be forced to conform – more so in Australia than any other country I’ve been in,” he added.

He also gave the example of Indian spin legend Anil Kumble and Afghanistan’s wrist spinner Rashid Khan while he was talking about the unconventional approach of the game. Even he cited about David Warner‘s style too. Apart from this, he referred to Steve Smith as the best batsman since the great Donald Bradman.

“Steven has proven them wrong. He’s the best since Bradman; this is not even an argument anymore,” he concluded.