Vintage knock: Trademark shuffle is back & so is Smith

FROM the moment Steve Smith strolled out to bat at the Gabba on Sunday morning, the signs were there.

- GOMESH S

In the lead up to the third Test, the Australian had been practicing with his shuffle across trigger movement—something he hadn't done in a while—and somewhere it felt like the big knock was coming.

Smith took the leg-stump guard against a belligerent Jasprit Bumrah. Facing his first delivery, Smith shuffled across so much that his leg stump was visible. As the ball bruised his thigh pad and flew, there were oohs and aahs at the media centre. 'Start writing your copies, Smith's back and he's scoring a hundred!' declared one of the scribes from Australia.

To be fair, having watched Smith in Perth and Adelaide, this did feel different. His trigger movement was such that he was covering the off-stump and playing to his strengths. This is a technique that brought him a lot of success over the years, but off late he had to shelve it. Even when he brought it back on Sunday, there was a risk. Much like Virat Kohli, Smith too had developed the habit of chasing balls outside off-stump with his hands.