'Fab Four' of the modern generation: A comprehensive career review

2. Steven Smith (Australia):

South Africa v Australia - 2nd Test: Day 3

The young boy with golden hair came to the international scene as a leg-spinner who could bat a bit lower down the order but who knew that destiny had the other way for Smith who went on to become the best batsman in the world, especially in Test Cricket.

Smith made his debut in domestic cricket in 2007-08 across all formats for New South Wales. He was believed to be a good leg-spinner who would give enough flight to the ball and turned big. Moreover, the young bowler action was similar to that of Warne and people started comparing him with Shane Warne.

Smith talent was still raw then and he had to wait for another two years to make his international debut in February 2010 in limited overs format. He was also handed his Test debut on the tour of England.

He batted at 7 or 8 and bowled leg spin, but still not had enough skills and had raw talent. He was selected for Ashes 2010-11 and his selection was criticized a lot and after Australia lost the urn.

Moreover, many people believed that he had more skills in batting than bowling and Greg Chappell even went on to say that Smith was the best batsman in the country.

Smith took this seriously and started to work hard on his batting. After good performances in domestic cricket Smith was called back into the squad for Ashes 2013, and he showed that he has improved as a batsman by a long way.

He possessed an unorthodox technique and he also developed his trigger movement across the off-stump, but this unorthodox technique proved effective and he scored a lot of runs. This was the arrival of Smith 2.0.

He continued his good form in the return Ashes series later that year and helped his team regain the Ashes urn. He followed it up with an equally impressive tour of South Africa.

He continued his form next season as well and the India tour of Australia made him one of the best batsman in the world, especially in test cricket as he piled a plethora of runs against a tired Indian bowling attack.

He also continued his good form in WC 2015 and scored five consecutive fifty-plus scores and helped Australia to lift the World Cup for the fifth time.

Even though Smith scored a lot of runs and was at the top of his form, many experts felt that he still did not have the technique to play well in seaming and spinning conditions. But he was quick to prove them wrong by performing exceptionally well in the 2015 Ashes in England and also scored a double century in the Lord's Test.

As expected he was given the captaincy of Test and ODI team after the tour of England, while the T20 leadership came after around six months.

He continued to pile on runs as captain also. He was in great form towards the end of 2015 when India toured Australia for the limited overs format and scored a heavy amount of runs. He continued his good form in series against New Zealand and South Africa across all formats.

He also performed decently in the T20 WC in 2016, the format in which he is still not considered to be best suited for.

The tour of Sri Lanka was not that well for Smith according to his standards, although he scored a century and a couple of half-centuries. But his team was not able to play well in spinning conditions and eventually went on to lose the test series.

He did not have a great tour of South Africa for the ODIs later that year. But he had a decent outing at home against New Zealand, South Africa, and Pakistan towards the end of the season in both Test and ODIs.

He was able to prove his batting credentials in spinning conditions in the subsequent tour to India in 2017 where he was the only batsman of the team who was able to score runs against the Indian spinners on the Indian pitches.

He also replaced MS Dhoni as captain of the Pune franchise in IPL 2017 and played well and helped the team to reach the finals only to lose the match towards the end of the innings after dominating for the most part of the match.

He was not able to perform to the expectations in the Champions Trophy as two out of the three group matches of Australia were abandoned due to rain. He then continued his good form in test cricket by performing well in the tour of Bangladesh and also performed exceptionally in the limited overs formats in the tour of India.

He was the main pillar of the Australian team for the 2017-18 Ashes at home and helped his team regain the urn by winning the series 4-0. He also batted decently in the limited-overs leg of the tour.

Everyone was impressed by his leadership and great batting technique which helped him to be at the helm of Test batting rankings for a long time. However he continued his great batting in the tour of South Africa, the third test of the series in Newlands led to a great downfall in his career as he was found guilty of ball tampering. He was banned for one test by ICC but Cricket Australia was taken aback by his action severely and they banned Smith for one year. Smith accepted his mistake and is now serving the ban while also taking part in some T20 leagues like CPL and APL to keep himself involved in the Cricket.

We hope that this incident does not take a toll on his batting and he continues to pile on runs in each format for his team after coming back to the team after serving his ban. The performance of the Australian team in the coming years, especially the 2019 WC will depend on the form of Smith and also Warner upon their return to the team after serving the ban.