India vs Australia 2023

‘Cant believe it!’ – Steve Smith to lead Australia in 3rd Test of BGT 2023

Smith has led Australia on three occasions when Pat Cummins was absent

Feb 27, 2023 5:24 pm

India and Australia are currently locking horns in the four match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India. India have taken a 2-0 lead in the Test match series, courtesy a big win by an innings and 132 runs at Nagur and by 6 wickets at Delhi. India’s spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have picked up 13 and 17 wickets respectively so far in the series.

Pat Cummins left for Australia after the second Test to attend to his ailing mother. With Cummins out of the remaining two Tests. Steve Smith will lead the side in the absence of Cummins. The Sydney player was the Australia captain earlier, but he stepped down after it was found that he was involved in the Sandpaper Gate scandal.

Steve Smith has an average of 70.36 as captain in Test Cricket

It will be the third time that Smith will be leading the team in the absence of Pat Cummins since he took over from Tim Paine. He has come in as captain in two Tests when Cummins was absent. Smith captained Australia in 34 Test matches. During his reign, Australia won 18 tests and lost 10; there were also 8 draws.

After Don Bradman as a captain in tests, the right-handed batter has an average of 70.36.Smith has hit 15 hundreds in Test cricket, matching Ricky Ponting and Alan Border.Smith has made 3659 runs as captain. The 33-year-old has scored 8718 runs in Test cricket at a strike rate of 54.21. He has 30 test hundreds and 33 fifties to his name in the red ball format.

Smith has two unbeaten 50s in a match and also the fastest to 8000 runs in tests. The right-handed batsman has an average of 60.12, which is the 6th highest batting average while donning the white flannels. Smith has not had a good start to the Test series in India. In four innings, he has had scores of 37, 25, 0, and 9. Smith practised with Mahesh Pithiya, who modelled his skills on those of Ashwin, to counter his threat, but it did not make much of a difference till now.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter-

The best captain australia can get

— Time Zone (@kohlihunter) February 27, 2023

https://twitter.com/Geek20Tech/status/1630118834593210373?s=20

https://twitter.com/KohliDrive74/status/1630117842850037763?s=20

https://twitter.com/BreatheRaina/status/1630118840419119106?s=20

https://twitter.com/Talkagain1234/status/1630147930199048194?s=20

Don't worry his average gonna decrease after the last two match :')

— Aadi071845 (@AdityaJ20820230) February 27, 2023

https://twitter.com/kshitijshah23/status/1630118114942947330?s=20

When last time Smith captained this happened. Hope it won't happen this time pic.twitter.com/kQPFtRRCct

— Cricket Lover (@CricketLover267) February 27, 2023