A ploy to limit ways of getting out: Smith

Aussie run-machine explains rationale behind his unusual batting stance

Logical reasoning: Steve Smith says his stance depends on the bowler or on the playing surface.

His unorthodox batting stance has left many befuddled, but Steve Smith says though it depends on a number of factors, he generally positions himself outside the off-stump to limit ways in which he can be dismissed.

Smith, the World’s No. 1 Test batsman, has amassed 7227 runs in 73 Tests and 4162 runs in ODIs with an unconventional technique, which many have failed to decode.

During a podcast organised by his IPL team Rajasthan Royals, Smith opened up about the unusual technique to New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi.

The Royals’ skipper said: “It depends on who’s bowling, how is the wicket playing, how I gonna score and stuff like that or how people are trying to get me out, probably that determines how open I am or otherwise how closed I am.

Visual judgement

“But my general stance where my back foot is going to almost off stump, or may be even outside at stages, I know that anything outside my eyeline isn’t hitting the stumps,” he said.

“For me, you shouldn’t get out if the ball is not hitting the stumps, so that is just a trick from me when I first started doing it, just limiting the ways I get out,” he explained.

The 30-year-old said his off-stump stance helps him to leave the ball which are outside his line of sight.

“Sometimes, I get trapped in front but I’m okay with that at stages, knowing that if it is outside my eyeline, I don’t need to try and play the ball, I can just leave that,” he said.