Steve Smith admits being mentally exhausted post recent Border-Gavaskar Series

The captain of the Australian team, Steve Smith, amidst preparation for the high-octane Ashes series, revealed that during the latter stages of the Indo-Australian Test series back in March this year, he was mentally exhausted.

After winning the first match at Pune, Australia went on to lose the second Test match at Bengaluru. India managed to salvage a draw in the Ranchi Test but overhauled the Aussies in the final Test match at Dharamsala. In the end, India went on to win the series by a margin of 2-1.

“I think I was in such good form and seeing the ball really well. I’d done a lot of batting in that series and even leading up to the last Test match, I hit an unusually low amount of balls before the game, because I just wanted to get in the middle and give everything I had left,” claimed Steve Smith according to his interview Espncricinfo.

“I was very mentally fatigued, and it was just about seeing the ball and hitting the ball in the last Test match, and not thinking too much. I think at one point I hadn’t made 10 [yet] and I hit Umesh Yadav over cover for four, something I wouldn’t normally do in a Test match,” further added the Australian.

Wish I had a bit more in me to get a big score: Smith

In the final Test match of the series at Dharamsala, Smith hit an impressive 111 in partnership with Warner who scored 56. However, the spell from Kuldeep Yadav put the Aussies on the backfoot from where they could not recover.

“It was a little bit bizarre. I was still fortunate enough to get a hundred. I wish I had a bit more in me to get a big score. I think that really would have helped the team, but I was so mentally drained that I just didn’t have anything left,” concluded Smith.