5 reasons why Steve Smith is the best Test batsman amongst the 'Fab Four'

#4 Overcame a poor technique

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see Kane Williamson bat? His copybook technique along with a watertight defence to make bowlers toil for hours. Virat's stroke play was always the hallmark of his batting, though he has struggled against the swinging deliveries outside the off stump, with his tendency to poke at those deliveries, thus leading to his downfall.

Joe Root has had that flair in his batting which made purists crave for more. Smith, on the other hand, was always a walking wicket for the opposition due to his exaggerated shuffle across the stumps which made him vulnerable to deliveries in the channel as well as made him a potent LBW candidate.

However, after Greg's words of encouragement, he started working on his technique. He cut out some of the tics and twitches which were making him unbalanced at the crease. Now, he stands outside the leg stump rather than on the middle stump and then shuffles across, and resultantly, his backdoor covers the off stump by the time he completes his shuffle. This has also helped him in leaving deliveries at around fifth stump as he is more aware as to where his off stump is.

No matter how much he moves about in the crease in order to work the ball into the gaps on the leg side, at the precise instant that the ball strikes the bat, his head is in line with it. While Root's head still falls across while playing on the leg side, thus making him prone to pacy inswinging deliveries, Smith has managed to make sure that his head remains still at the time of making contact. That he has scored more than 6000 test runs at an alarming pace with a robust technique is a testimony to his undying will to succeed.