Champions Trophy: Smith anchorman as Aussies throw the gauntlet

Cometh the hour, cometh Steve Smith. With captaincy thrust upon him once again owing to Pat Cummins pulling out of the tournament, the master batter carried the Australia innings on his shoulders — with help from Alex Carey and Travis Head — to a par score of 264 all out with three balls to spare in the ICC Champions Trophy.

It was a characteristically dour 73 from Smith, ready for a scrap against the formidable quartet of Indian spinners, full of hard-run singles as it contained only four hits to the fence and a six. He enjoyed a big slice of luck though when in the 14th over, his thick inside edge to a delivery from Axar Patel gently rolled onto his stumps but much to India’s dismay, did not dislodge the bails.

A 56-run partnership between him and Marnus Labuschagne — two of the best players of spin in the Aussie line-up — negotiated the most critical phase of the innings after an impatient Colin Conolly fell for no score and dangerman Travis Head fell to the trap laid by Varun Chakravarthy. The spin-heavy Indian attack stuck to its job and did well to contain Australia, who were at 196/4 after 36 overs and looked good for a total in the region of 300.

He was the anchorman of Australian innings and was involved in three 50-plus stands - 52 with Head for the second wicket, 56 for the third wicket Marnus Labuschagne and 54 for the fifth wicket with Carey.

 Much as the onus was on the spinners to contain the Australians who prefer the ball to come onto the bat – comeback man Mohammed Shami proved his worth for the big occasion. An attempted yorker from the senior pro, who bowled within himself after coming back from a major injury, crashed into Smith’s stumps. It was him who dealt the first blow by removing an impatient Conolly and later added the wicket of tailender Nathan Ellis.