Steve Smith
Australian cricketer Steve Smith on Sunday had a fun Instagram Q&A session with fans wherein he was asked about a variety of questions ranging from his opinion on cricketers like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Babar Azam, to his career highlight and the best tournament he has ever played in.
On areas of Indian cricket, Smith complimented all the cricketers that fans asked about. He rated Ravindra Jadeja as the best fielder in international cricket among the current lot, called the Indian Premier League as the best tournament he has ever played in, and described Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium in having an "amazing atmosphere".
Meanwhile, he hailed former Indian captain MS Dhoni as "legend" and "Mr. Cool", called Rohit Sharma "Hitman" and called present Indian captain a "freak". However, when asked to name the Indian cricketer who has impressed him the most, Smith picked KL Rahul, praising him as a “very good player”. Last but not the least, when asked about former Indian cricketer and legend of the game, Rahul Dravid, Smith said, "What a lovely gentleman and seriously good player!"
Besides Indian cricketers, a fan also asked him about Pakistan's newly-announced ODI skipper, Babar Azam, and Smith said, "Very good player. Has a lot of time when he's batting." And then picked Mohammad Amir as the most difficult bowler he has faced.
On being asked about his career, Smith picked 2015 World Cup win as the best moment in his career so far, and hailed his 144 at Edgbaston last Ashes as his most favourite innings. The knock had marked the return of Smith after the international ban.
Smith also made a rather surprising assessment of one of his most impressive Test knocks, his 109 against India in Pune during the 2017 Test series. Scored in the third innings of the Test match, the knock along with Steve o'Keefe's 12-fer helped Australia beat India at their own backyard, a Test match that stands as the only glitch in India's imperious home record under Kohli.
When asked about the Pune knock, Smith opined saying, “I got dropped five times so essentially I got five good 20s,” he wrote. “Fluke!”
In his final question, he was asked about the impending Border-Gavaskar series slated to begin in December this year and Smith said, "Can't wait. Going to be awesome".
India had won the last series in Australia, the nation's first ever Test series win Down Under. But veteran cricketers reckon that the impending series will be the one to look forward to as Smith and David Warner will both be available for the contest, unlike in the previous series where the pair were serving their ball-tampering ban.
