'Sometimes, I get trapped in front' - Steve Smith reveals the reason behind his unusual batting technique and stance

Steve Smith is without a doubt one of the best batsmen in the world. His records in Test cricket has been just outstanding as he averages more than 62.8 even after 73 Tests. Recently, in a podcast with Ish Sodhi, Smith revealed how his unusual batting styles helps him to get runs easily and not get out.

The masterclass given by the player is a treat for any young cricketer growing up. Smith went on to explain how he copes up with the ball swinging and moving away from him. He revealed how he leaves the balls outside the off-stump line, which is called as ‘the channel of uncertainty.

“It depends on who’s bowling, how is the wicket playing, how I gonna score and stuff like that or how people are trying to get me out, probably that determines how open I am or otherwise how closed I am.

But my general stance where my back foot is going to almost off stump or maybe even outside at stages, I know that anything outside my eye line isn’t hitting the stumps,” he said. For me, you shouldn’t get out if the ball is not hitting the stumps, so that is just a trick from me when I first started doing it, just limiting the ways I get out,” the 30-year-old said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“Sometimes, I get trapped in front but I’m okay with that at stages, knowing that if it is outside my eye line, I don’t need to try and play the ball, I can just leave that,” added Smith.

Steve Smith could be named as the Australia skipper once again

After the sandpaper fiasco which shook the entire system in the Australian cricket, Steve Smith’s ban from captaincy has been lifted finally. The right-hand batter was banned by Cricket Australia for one year, but a separate two-year ban meant he couldn’t lead the national side for two years. With the ban been lifted, Smith could be named as the Aussie skipper once again.

Both Tim Paine and Aaron Finch have done pretty well but, there have been talks of Paine’s retirement while Finch is 33 years old and could retire after 2023 World Cup. Going by the current Test captain Paine said Smith is not the only one who is in contention to take over the reins.

“We’ve got a number of guys to choose from who can put their hand up. There’s Steve Smith, who’s done it before, or the people who are developing underneath like a Travis Head or an Alex Carey — Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins are other ones. We’re starting to build some real depth so that when my time’s up we’ve got a number of options,” Paine had said in a recent interview.