5 Players who rejuvenated their careers by changing their batting order

2. Steve Smith

Steve Smith made his Australia debut in 2010 as a leg-spinner. However, he was quite mediocre with his performances and not given a consistent run in the national side. Smith featured in four Tests that year and could bag only three scalps in those outings Though the Sydney-born played handy knocks with the bat slotting in at lower down the order, his inability to ace the spinner’s role worked against him and he was dropped from the side.

Smith’s career took off when he was drafted into the side as a genuine batter. In the third game of the four-match Test series against India in 2013, he was slotted in the middle-order and made an immediate impact, scoring a well-compiled 92 runs. However, the flamboyant cricketer rose to prominence with his exploits in The Ashes 2013, which saw him score 345 runs in five games at an average of 38.33.

Smith continued piling runs for fun in the years to come and has become a lynchpin of the Australian batting line-up. Test cricket has been his happy hunting ground where he has amassed 8647 runs in 92 matches at a magnificent average of 60.89. Coming to the ODIs, the veteran batter has accumulated 4917 runs in 139 games at an average of 45.11.