"Come and say that we don't want this trophy" - Salman Butt to Steve Smith's detractors after Australia's ODI series win over India

Former Pakistan opener Salman Butt lavished praise on Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith following the side's stunning 2-1 ODI series victory over India on Wednesday.

He opined that Smith is the best captain that Australia have at the moment. Butt suggested that people who didn't want the batter to lead the team again should not celebrate the team's series victory.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, he remarked:

"Steve Smith is Australia's best captain. While a certain section believes that he should not be leading the team, I guess it was in his destiny as he got the opportunity as Pat Cummins had to leave.

"The gentlemen who were against Steve Smith should not come and say that we don't want this trophy and that this series should not be counted in the record books. But they won't say that, they will say that Australia have won."

Notably, Butt was referring to the people who were against Smith being handed a leadership position within the Australian team following the infamous 2018 Sandpaper-gate ball-tampering scandal. It is worth mentioning that the player was handed a two-year captaincy ban in the aftermath of the incident.

He took over Australia's captaincy ahead of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as regular skipper Pat Cummins flew home due to personal reasons.

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"Australian spinners got the better of them" - Salman Butt on Indian batters

Speaking about the ODI series decider between the two nations, Salman Butt further stated that the Australian spinners did a wonderful job of bamboozling the Indian batters, who are known to be great batters of spin.

He lauded Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar for making it difficult for the Men in Blue with their tidy spells in Chennai. Steve Smith and Co. succeeded in defending a 270-run total, securing a 21-run victory to seal the three-match series 2-1.

On this, Butt said:

"It is surely no mean feat for a spinner to succeed against India in India. Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar bowled really well. There was some help for the spinners. Indians are known to play spin well, but this time, the Australian spinners got the better of them."

Zampa bagged four scalps in the crucial encounter. Playing his first match of the series, Agar also impressed many with his bowling exploits as he picked up the important wickets of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.