Love watching Virat Kohli's batting: Steven Smith

Steven Smith

Australian batsman Steven Smith, who is currently in India playing for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has seemingly been in outstanding form forever now, having scored 769 runs from 4 Tests against India recently at a Bradmanesque average of 128.16 and followed that up with more than 400 runs at an average of 67 in their victorious World Cup campaign.

He has continued his good run of form in the ongoing IPL too, playing a crucial role in the Royals being perched in the top half of the points table.

Talking about their campaign so far during a promotional event on Tuesday, Smith said: “It's been good. We started well, winning our first five games, and then had a bit of a rough patch. The washouts slowed down our momentum a bit, and we won the last game. The most important thing is that we should be playing good cricket at the back-end of the event.”

As far as the role that Royals mentor Rahul Dravid has played in the recent success that they have enjoyed, Smith had nothing but positive things to say.

“He's as experienced as you get. He's a great role model for everyone here. A lot of the overseas players have been able to or pick his brain and learn about different things like how to bat in Indian conditions,” he stated.

When asked about India’s star batsman Virat Kohli, who had no love lost for the Australians during their recent contests and succeeded in piling up tons of runs, Smith said that he had huge respect for Kohli as a player and that he is one of his most favourite batsmen to watch.

“Look, Virat is a terrific player. He's been one since coming onto the scene. He's someone that I really like watching. He had a lot of success as well throughout the summer back home.”