Steve Smith is one of the finest cricketers of the modern era and if there were any doubts about it, those were quashed in Sheffield Shield yesterday. Channeling his inner Ravichandran Ashwin, the former Australian skipper bowled both off-spin and leg-spin in the same over to take advantage of the conditions.
Smith was alongside Ashwin in the now-defunct IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in the 2017 edition. Though the 30-year-old did not play in the tournament because of an injury but Smith, who was the captain of the RPS that year, certainly benefited from some bowling tips. He was seen producing both forms of spin after his New South Wales (NSW) captain Peter Nevil asked him to bowl to give some breakthrough in a Sheffield Shield game.
When Smith’s national side colleague Marnus Labuschagne was batting, Smith bowled his usual leg-spin but then started bowling off-spin when left-handed batsman Matt Renshaw came on strike. Though Smith did not take any wicket, he put some check on the opponents’ scoring.
Batting ✔
Leg-spin ✔
Off-spin ✔Steve Smith is quite good at cricket! #SheffieldShield #QLDvNSW pic.twitter.com/3B2PMVPjMo
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 10, 2019
Later, Smith had a rare failure with the bat when he fell for a duck against Queensland in Brisbane but the experts said it only proved that Smith is also a human being.
Turns out Steve Smith is human after all! Out for a duck on a day of #SheffieldShield carnage at the Gabba pic.twitter.com/9LI8VPga8x
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 10, 2019
