Steven Smith emulates Shahid Afridi's bowling in the CPL; says he's been trying to do so for a while

Former Aussie captain Steven Smith, who has been in news for some time due to the ban for leading the shameful ball-tampering scandal that happened in late March while the Kangaroos were touring South Africa, has finally started to garner headlines by virtue of his good performances on the pitch.

The disgraced player was banned from International Cricket for a year, while cricketing leagues like the Global T20 Canada and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) allowed him to play on. Smith is a part of the Barbados Tridents' setup this season in the CPL.

The Tridents have been having a horrific run in the tournament so far, placed penultimate in the league table, having won only of their contests so far. But a strong all-round performance from Smith has now helped them secure their second win of the season, where they eclipsed Jamaica Tallawahs by just two runs, in the game that was conducted yesterday, August 22.

Smith with his man-of-the-match award

While batting first, he came in at 39/3 and scored a 44-ball-63 (5*4, 3*6) that powered his side to 156/6 in 20 overs. And while bowling, he produced a spell of 3-0-19-2 that not only restricted run-flow in the middle overs but also put an end to the innings of Glenn Phillips (36 off 24) and Johnson Charles (42 off 32) - the Jamaican innings eventually ending at 154/3 in 20 overs. Smith thus earned his first man-of-the-match award in a game of cricket after an interval of six months.

Smith, who began his career as a leg-spinner before he became one of the top batsmen in the world, revealed the reasons for his newfound success, at the presentation ceremony. “I've sort of changed a few things up [in bowling]. I'm trying to model my action on Shahid Afridi, pushing it through and try to bowl fast into the wicket. Fortunately, it worked tonight," he said, before adding: “He [Afridi] has been a terrific leg-spinner. I can't get the momentum into the ball [with my usual action] as I'm growing older."

Take a look at how he emulates Afridi, in the video below:

@stevesmith49 emulating @SAfridiOfficial 's bowling to the dot! And it works! @CPL Individual videos courtesy: @CPL and @Official_BPLT20 pic.twitter.com/auEv4Vd67E

— Harigovind Thoyakkat (@thoyakkatboy) August 23, 2018