Introduction

Steven Smith is an Australian international cricketer and former captain of the Australian national team. Smith is consistently rated as one of the top-ranked Test batsmen in the world, according to the ICC Player Rankings. Smith has been called the "best since Bradman" due to his distinctively high Test batting average. He plays for New South Wales and Sydney Sixers in domestic cricket. He is the captain of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. 

Although he was initially selected for Australia as a right-arm leg spinner, Smith later played primarily as a batsman. After a few matches in 2010 and 2011, he was a regular player in the Australian team after 2013, and took over captaincy from Michael Clarke in late 2015, after which he predominantly batted at number 3 or 4. 

3 Life Lessons from Steve Smith

Believe in yourself. 

He came into international cricket as a leg spinner. But he believed in his batting and now he is currently one of the best batsman in the world. 

Accept your mistake. 

He was very much brave to accept his mistake post sandpaper incident, thereby making him the prolific leader. 

Come back strong. 

After he was banned for a year, he came back very much strongly and earned back the respect. Initially he was booed by the crowd, but he kept his calm and did not take much time to announce his arrival at the international stage. 

Early Life

Steve Smith was born on 2 June 1989 in Kogarah, Sydney to an Australian father, Peter, who has a degree in chemistry, and an English mother, Gillian. Because his mother was born in London, Smith has dual British and Australian citizenship. Smith attended Menai High School, and left at age 17 to play cricket in England where he played club cricket for Sevenoaks Vine in the premier division of the Kent Cricket League. He did so well for Sevenoaks that he was picked to play for Surrey's second XI. 

He made his remarkable debut in January 2008 playing against Western Australia at the SCG. He put the first feather to his success cap at 2008 KFC Big Bash Tournament where he demonstrated his skills by becoming a leading wicket taker. He then went on to win the Twenty20 championship in 2009 where he played for the team of New South Wales. In 2011-12, Australian T20 got replaced by city-based Big Bash League with eight teams. 

Steve got his place in Sydney Sixers where is got a chance to exhibit his captaincy skill by filling the place of captain Brad Haddin, who had to perform his Test duties. Steve led his team to victory in that inaugural session. He became an all-rounder by scoring 166 runs with a half century as a batsman in nine matches, took 6 wickets as a bowler and also took nine catches throughout the tournament. 

From spin option to No.1 Test Batsman

The No.1 ICC Test Batsman with 23 test centuries and 2 double centuries at just 29 years of age is also Australia's heir apparent. He will probably end up as a legend in Australian cricket at the rate at which he has turned his career around, starting as a spinner who could bat to being No.3 in one of the best batting orders in test cricket for an almost invincible team! Steven Smith was never meant to be Australia’s No.3, a position that had been occupied by Ricky Ponting for such a long time. Most opponents hardly celebrated when they picked the first wicket in a Test against Australia as that would bring the great man to the crease. Steven Smith, who tasted fame and recognition as part of the U-19 team, was meant to be a leg-spinner. Funny as it may seem, it took Australia more than a few years to come to terms with the fact that Shane Warne was gone and that his boots would be too big to fill. Smith was one of those who was put to the task. He was a handy leg-spinner, but he was not cut out for it – far from it in fact. He did play a series against Pakistan as Australia’s No.1 spinner and didn’t do so well in the limited opportunities he received. Those were turbulent times in Australian cricket – a rare six-year patch when they went without winning the Ashes. 

From the bottom

Smith was inducted into the team as a bowler against Pakistan, at Lord’s. There were glimpses of his batting talent, but it took a while before those were paid attention to. He was part of Australia’s losing Ashes campaigns, including one of their worst nightmares when they lost 1-3 at home against England. In spite of some decent starts, Smith couldn’t find a place in the Test side for a couple of years. It was almost as if it was hard to see him as a permanent No.6 even though he got runs. He was not elegant. He was not a pretty batsman. He didn’t have Ponting’s audacity or Michael Clarke’s finesse. He didn’t have Michael Hussey’s technique. He just didn’t fit in Australia’s road to recovery. 

Downpour of accomplishments

Steven Smith was part of the Australian team that beat England 5-0 to regain the urn after a long time. His first three Test centuries came against England. His fourth came in a win in South Africa. The next four, came at home, against India, where Smith achieved many feats including hitting a century in each Test of a series, registering the third highest tally of runs in four matches of a series and becoming the first Australian skipper to score centuries in his first three Test matches as captain. Another 199 came in West Indies, helping Smith become the second youngest player ever to reach the ICC No.1 ranking for batsmen. Amidst the Test glory, where Smith is heir apparent to captain Michael Clarke, there was also the small matter of the World Cup win. Smith played two crucial knocks, in the quarter-final against Pakistan and then in the semi-final against India, where he scored a ton. It was a phase when Smith could do no wrong. He is still enjoying the enormous thrills and frills of that phase that has now extended for a little too long for it to be called fortuitous or accidental. He is world-class and at 29 years, is probably the best amongst the generation of cricketers who will go on to become future legends, along with Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, and Joe Root. 

Temperament and technique for all formats 

Smith is outright captaincy material, something his teammates like Ryan Harris had claimed long before. But he showed it by giving Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2015 a glorious start before their campaign was derailed, only coinciding with Shane Watson’s return. Eventually Smith was handed the captaincy reins in a last-ditch effort to make it to the play-offs, which they succeeded in doing. While Smith’s highly competitive, highly assertive and highly tactical presence is a defiance of his age, he has the batting and fielding to back his talk and set examples. He pulls absolute scorchers with his sticky hands. He is an excellent batsman for all formats, for all conditions, something which was tough to predict once, given his unusual technique. His unorthodox approach, odd footwork, higher back-lift and shuffling across stumps to nudge and whip the ball to the on side don’t exactly make him look like the best batsman of the world. However, his resilience, balance, stability on the crease and nimble footwork which he showed on sharp turning tracks in India, have helped Smith climb the ladder very quickly. His keen eye is consistent with an excellent cricketing acumen. More than 2500 runs in 54 innings at an average of 56.23 with over a thousand runs in one year so early in his career show he is cut out for remarkable things. The captain of the Australian team is historically more than just a good player. It tells a lot about Smith that he was earmarked so early for captaincy. At 29, Smith is already the cricketer and leader most others aspire to be. That makes all the difference. For what it’s worth, Smith is also the cricket buff. He is not the glamor-loving poster boy flanked by supermodels. He is the boy next door with a great love story that has turned things around for him. In simple cricket lingo, Smith is stable with a steady head in the ground and in real life. As anyone who follows cricket will tell you, that is the sign of a truly great player. 

📜Conclusion:-

Never Forever, Give Up..!!!