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‘Greedy’ Steve Smith misses out on hundred on ‘dead’ pitch

Steve Smith lost his wicket on 78

Missing on the opportunity to bag a Test hundred on the Pakistani soil in the historic match between the two countries has greatly annoyed the Australian hitter Steve Smith. Talking to the press post-match on day 4, Smith expressed how he felt greedy and played the wrong shot that forced him to go back to the Pavillion. 

“Pretty annoying. I got a bit greedy there with the field they had set. “Disappointed. I’d worked pretty hard and got myself in a nice position to go on and get a big score. So disappointed with the shot selection,”

Pakistan, who batted the first two days, declared the inning at 476/4 at the end of day 2, after which the opposition could only play one over before bad lighting stopped the play. The match had to be halted early due to overcast conditions on day three and a heavy downpour forced the game to have a delayed start on the fourth day. 

The rain probably disappointed both sides as it further diminished the chance of an outcome. “Perhaps if we were five (wickets) down we might have been able to push a little harder in the morning and potentially set something up. You never know if you get a 100 lead what can happen so, yeah, a bit disappointing.” Smith was 78 off 196 balls when he fell to Nauman Ali’s leg-side trap.

Over the days, the Rawalpindi pitch has drawn in a lot of criticism from the fans and the cricket community on the whole. The fraternity questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja for curating such a pitch when he himself advocates for result-oriented pitches. 

When asked about his opinion on the Pindi Test, Steve Smith told called it ‘dead and benign’ with no room for pace and bounce. “There’s not a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers. I think the spinners have offered a little bit. Pretty benign, dead wicket.”

Despite favouring the batter, no Australian batter could score a century. Usman Khawaja, on 97, became victim to Nauman’s spin attack and was caught when the ball was launched in the air after hitting his glove. The visitors lost all the wickets on 459.

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This Australian Couple played against Pakistan today, at the same time