Steve Smith yet to fully recover from his elbow injury

Rajasthan Royals defeated the Mumbai Indians for the second time in the ongoing IPL 2019. For a change, the franchise had replaced their captain Ajinkya Rahane with Australia’s Steve Smith, which evoked the ire of BCCI. The change proved to be beneficial for the team, as they moved to 6 points from 9 games.

Steve Smith had made his comeback to IPL after missing the previous season when he was bought by the Royals in the auction. BCCI had banned him and David Warner from IPL 2018 after a CA mandate in the aftermath of their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Smith made a comeback this year, but it was a muted one as compared to Warner’s for SRH, who holds the Orange cap for most runs.

Smith’s injury

Before coming to IPL, Steve Smith had participated in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) during which he injured his elbow and later had surgery on it, ruling him out of the tournament after a handful of matches. However, he revealed recently that there are still a few issues regarding his elbow and it is slowly recovering.

“I still have to play quite heavily strapped. There are still a few issues with throwing but I’m back throwing and getting there slowly. A couple of weeks later I should be able to throw at full pace, which is going to be nice. I haven’t quite enjoyed hiding in the field, that is not my way around things.

I like to be in the action, and get in hot-spots and involved in the game. But the elbow is coming along nicely. Since I’ve been here in India, I haven’t felt any pain batting,” Smith was quoted as saying by Times Now.

He also termed leading the Royals a huge honour and a privilege, saying that he was surprised when the RR management called and ask him to lead the side for the rest of the season. Smith, in his first game after getting reinstated as captain, led from the front, making 59 runs in 48 balls against MI and won the third match for his team.

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