Steve Smith's advice to Ben Stokes comes back to haunt Australia

When English all-rounder Ben Stokes was paid a sum of INR 14.5 crores for his service by the Rising Pune Supergiant, a lot of hands and questions were raised at the franchise for dishing out so much money on a raw player.

Steve Smith’s advice to the English cricketer during the course of the duo’s stay at Pune made the English all-rounder a better player and came back to haunt the Australian captain in their 40 run defeat against their arch-rivals England.

The Australian skipper told the English all-rounder to improve his posture as he was losing his backside a bit, after which the all-rounder picked up the pace to help the Pune team reach the playoff stage of the competition. Smith forgot that this small piece of advice might come back to haunt him when the Aussies faced the threat of the host’s nation in the Group A encounter in the Champions Trophy.

Asked after Saturday’s match what tip Smith had passed on, Stokes told reporters: “He just gave a little tip out in India, something on my technique, something that he felt he could help me with.”

Pressed to reveal the nugget of information, Stokes added: “Just that I was losing my backside a bit when I was hitting.”

The 26-year-old left-handed batsman, who bowls right-handed scored 316 runs in 12 matches, with a highest of 103 not out, and took 12 wickets before a recall to England squad duty stopped him featuring in the playoffs, for which he was heavily criticized.

The all-rounder certainly did not ‘lose’ much at the crease either with the Rising Pune Supergiant or during Saturday’s clash against Australia.

Virat Kohli too heaps praises on the all-rounder:

Further, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli heaped his praise on the all-rounder tweeting that the England star’s flicked four off Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins was “ridiculous” and “one of the best shots I’ve seen for a while!”

“I never feel I get too high and I never feel I get too low about things. I’m always looking to learn and am never happy with how I am going. I think once you get comfortable with what you’re offering it is dangerous territory to be in.” said the all-rounder in return to the praises from the Indian skipper.