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What's the news?
Australian head coach Justin Langer said that watching Steve Smith batting against Nathan Coulter Nile felt like watching the great Sachin Tendulkar.
In case you didn't know
The Australian team is in good form ahead of the World Cup as they have won ODI series against India and Pakistan. The team has been further strengthened with the arrival of Steve Smith and David Warner who recently completed their bans.
Heart of the matter
Australian head coach was discussing a shot played by Steve Smith of the bowling of Nathan Coulter-Nile. The former left-hander said that Smith seems to be in a good shape ahead of the mega event, and watching him bat felt like witnessing Sachin Tendulkar's batting.
"Last week in Brisbane, (Smith) batted beautifully, he played an unbelievable shot off Nathan Coulter-Nile there - it was like watching Sachin bat. He's in pretty good shape I think," cricket.com.au quoted Langer, as saying.
Steven Smith seemed to be in good knick in practice games vs New Zealand. The 29-year-old played good knocks of 89 and 91 in the matches against the Kiwis. The Australian head coach was also impressed with the form of Smith. He further added that it was nice to have a great batsman like Smith back in the team. Langer told that Smith loves so much that he is even batting in the shower.
He added,"(I) watched Steve Smith batting against New Zealand in those three practice games, he's literally a master of the game, so it's nice to have him back. He loves batting - he's shadow batting on the sand, he's shadow batting in the shower - I'm not joking."
What's next?
Australia will play two warm-up games against England and Sri Lanka on 25th and 27th May respectively. The defending champions will open their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign with a match against Afghanistan on 1st June.
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