World Cup 2019: Justin Langer hails Steve Smith for his consistency, compares the batter with Sachin Tendulkar

Lavishing praise on Steve Smith, Australia head coach Justin Langer compared the former captain with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Langer was mighty impressed after watching Smith play an “unbelievable shot” in Brisbane. Smith is gearing up to play international cricket for Australia once again after serving the one-year ban imposed on him due to the ball-tampering scandal. Smith along with Warner have made it to Australia’s World Cup squad despite not playing international cricket for over a year now.

However, their current form will be very pleasing for the team-management. Warner lit up the Indian Premier League by finishing the tournament as its highest run-scorer. Despite playing just 12 games, he amassed a staggering 692 runs. Smith, on the other hand, roared back to form with knocks of unbeaten 89 and 91 not out in the warm-up games in Brisbane against a New Zealand XI. Smith and Warner had played a big role in Australia’s triumphant campaign at the last World Cup.

While Smith had finished the tournament as the top-scorer for Australia, Warner was the second-highest as the team from Down Under won the title for a record fifth time. And it looks like Smith is all set to replicate his last World Cup’s heroics in the forthcoming tournament as Langer is extremely impressed with his form.

“Last week in Brisbane, (Smith) batted beautifully, he played an unbelievable shot off Nathan Coulter-Nile there – it was like watching Sachin bat. He’s in pretty good shape I think,” cricket.com.au quoted Langer as saying.

“(I) watched Steve Smith batting against New Zealand in those three practice games, he’s literally a master of the game, so it’s nice to have him back. He loves batting – he’s shadow batting on the sand, he’s shadow batting in the shower – I’m not joking,” he added.

Justin Langer highlights Australia’s track record

The former Australia opener further made it clear that his team would play like it has always done and would not copy the style of the likes of England, India and other in-form teams. Langer said that the defending champions know what it takes to be a successful side and will perform in that way only.

“When everyone says we’ve got to start playing like England or start playing like New Zealand or start playing like India, no – we’ll keep playing like Australia because we’ve won four of the past five World Cups and that’s something to be proud of. The boys are aware of it and we know if we stick to the Australian way of playing great cricket… history has shown we’ll be pretty good,” Langer said.

Australia will start their title-defence against Afghanistan on June 1 at the Bristol County Ground.

[interaction id=”5cdfe7affd3c1bb250eb6691″]