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Ranchi pitch didn’t offer turn, says Steve Smith
Australia captain Steve Smith observed that the track did not offer any spin like the first two Test matches where ICC rated the strips as “poor” and “below average” respectively.
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Ranchi
Asked about the pitch, centurion Smith said: “This ball didn’t spin here. In the first two Tests, the ball spun. The bounce was consistent and there wasn’t any up and down movement. We will need as many as we can get in the first innings.”
He was all praise for Glenn Maxwell, who is batting on 82 having scored his maiden Test fifty. “Obviously for 4 for 300, we had to form a couple of partnerships. Maxi played beautifully. Stuck to his plans and struck the bad balls. It is a good pitch so we will need all the runs we can get. But tomorrow is going to be a crucial day for us,” he said.
In the eye of storm post ‘ DRS Brain Fade ’, Smith said that he has moved on. “You cannot control the past. I came out and said I made a mistake and moved on from there.”
- 3 Number of visiting captains to score two or more centuries in a series in India. Smith is the third to do so. Clive Lloyd (1974-75, 1983-84) and Alastair Cook (2012-13) have scored three centuries before Smith.
- 53 Tests played by Australian captain Steve Smith to reach the milestone — the third-quickest after Australian Don Bradman (36) and India’s Sunil Gavaskar (52).
- 97 Number of innings taken by Steven Smith to complete 5000 Test runs.
- 37 Glenn Maxwell’s previous highest before this innings.
- 159 The unbroken partnership between Smith and Maxwell — the highest fifth-wicket stand for Australia in India. This is the biggest partnership of the series eclipsing the 118 runs added by Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in the second Test.
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