"He has this uncanny knack of just being ahead of the game" - Former India batter hails Steve Smith's underrated leadership skills

Former India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik praised Steve Smith's captaincy in the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal against the Men in Blue. While Australia lost the knockout clash by four wickets, Karthik reckons that few other captains would have managed to take the game as deep as Smith did considering Australia's highly inexperienced bowling line-up.

Australia won the toss and batted first in the first semifinal against India in Dubai. Smith led from the front with 73 off 96 balls, while Alex Carey smashed 61 off 57. However, there wasn't much contribution from the others as the Aussies were held to 264. India chased the target in 48.1 overs as Virat Kohli top-scored with a patient 84 off 98 balls.

Following Australia's loss in the semifinal, Smith announced his retirement from the ODI format. Incidentally, he was named captain for the 2025 Champions Trophy after regular skipper Pat Cummins was ruled out due to injury. During a discussion on Cricbuzz, Karthik hailed Smith as a batter and praised his leadership. The former India stumper commented:

"Terrific ODI cricketer. Overall itself, he is a legend in any format that you take. Mainly Test cricket and then you follow it through with ODI cricket. But, what a player he has been.

"Speaking about his captaincy, he has this uncanny knack of just being ahead of the game. He actually led Australia beautifully on that day. A lot of other captains wouldn't have taken the game that deep. Because of his captaincy skills - how he rotated bowlers, used the spinners wisely. Also understand, very inexperienced bowling attack, but still took the game so far and that's kudos to his captaincy and tactical skills," the 39-year-old went on to add.

Australia went into the 2025 Champions Trophy without most of their frontline bowlers. While Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were unavailable due to fitness issues, Mitchell Starc pulled out for personal reasons. Also, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement from ODIs ahead of the Champions Trophy.

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Steve Smith's record as captain in international cricket

Smith led Australia in 40 Test matches as captain, winning 23 and losing 10, while seven matches ended in a draw.

In one-day cricket, the 35-year-old led the Aussies in 64 matches, winning 32 and losing 28. Four games produced no result. Smith also led Australia in eight T20Is, of which the team won four and lost four.