I was one of the 12 or 13 spinners selectors tried after Shane Warne retired: Steve Smith

Steve Smith is currently the number one batsman in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen. He is also rated as one of the best batsmen in modern-day cricket across all the formats. But, his evolution as a main batter was not that easy. He was picked for Australia as a specialist bowler. However, later he shifted his focus towards his batting. Steve Smith himself opened up talking over the same in a chat organized by Rajasthan Royals with Kiwi spinner Ish Sodhi.

The 30-year-old made his international debut back in 2010. Surprisingly, he was picked as a specialist spinner as a replacement for Shane Warne in the side. But, he failed to impress the selectors with his performances with the ball and eventually was dropped from the national team. Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon arrived and he became the leading spinner of the team.

Steve Smith makes a surprising revelation during chat with Ish Sodhi

In the chat, Steve Smith said that he was one of the 12 or 13 bowlers that selectors tried after Shane Warne bid farewell to international cricket. He was one of those bowlers but was axed from the squad due to his poor performances.

Later Smith realised that into the Australian side on the back of his batting talent. So he directed all his focus towards his batting and now he is the main batsmen for his country in Tests and ODIs. “They were looking for a spinner after the Shane Warne era and tried plenty of options at that time.

“Now we have got Nathan Lyon who is doing a terrific job but I was one of the 12 or 13 spinners that they tried. I got dropped after that and for me, I felt I can find a way back into the team through my batting. So at that point, I let my bowling slip away a bit. Before that, I was mixing and matching between batting and bowling and working on both in a session in the nets.

“Then it got to a point where, if a session is of three hours in the nets, I’d be doing probably two and half hours of batting,” Steve Smith.