After scoring his eighth Test hundred here, Steve Smith said, “It’s been a pretty special summer for me personally. I always look at the team first and I think that the success the team has had over the last little bit has been outstanding.”
Smith added, “To get a 100 on the SCG, home ground for me, and my favourite place to play is pretty special.”
On the Indian tactics against him, Smith said, “I think yesterday afternoon when I came in to bat, they tried to get me out caught at leg slip, the way they got me in Melbourne. They played into my hands.”
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On paceman Mitchell Starc giving Murali Vijay a sending off — both teams said they wanted to avoid this manner of celebration before the Test — the Australia captain said, “I don’t think it’s a good part of the game to send batters off. I didn’t see what Starcy (Starc) did. I was busy celebrating myself. The umpire did not say anything. I don’t see an issue at this stage.”
He added, “It’s not a part of the game that needs to go ahead. I’m sure our players will stay pretty calm when we get wickets from now on.”
Smith was impressed with Starc’s pace. “That’s the way he bowls his best. As we’ve seen and as I said before this Test, the way he bowled in the Big Bash, short spells and up to 150 kmph, it’s never comfortable to face. We’re looking for that aggression from him again tomorrow.”
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About the pitch, he said: “It’s not the kind of wicket where you can blast sides out, it’s about staying patient and hopefully the patience pays off.”
Smith hoped the pitch would break up and assist off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
He was also quite clear that he understood that he was the stand-in captain. “I’m only temporary at the moment, it’s Michael’s (Clarke) team and when he comes back he can jump straight back in there.”
Learning processIndia speedster Mohammed Shami returned a hard-earned five-wicket innings haul even as Australia piled on the runs.
He said, “We concentrated on line and length. It’s a learning process for us here. The Australian pacemen are more used to the conditions.”
Shami said Bhuvneshwar Kumar was fit for the match. “It is based on fitness that the eleven is decided. You may have noticed he doesn’t have that sort of pace, he is a line, length and swing bowler. It is such a slow wicket and if you judge him on his pace then it’s not fair to question his fitness.”
Shami said, “If you look at any fast bowler, no fast bowler is hundred per cent fit. Every player has some niggle or the other. We can’t judge a player on that.”