‘What the hell am I doing?’ – Steve Smith angry at sweep shot dismissal in the second Test against India

In the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test, India and Australia faced off against one another in Delhi. The two sides got right into what turned out to be a tremendous contest. With Australia having the advantage at the start of Day 3, the match might have gone either way.

The Australians, who were frequently swiping the ball, were quickly destroyed by the Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin finished with three wickets, while Jadeja concluded with his best figures of 7/42. On a hectic day three morning, nine wickets were lost for 53 runs, and some previous players questioned the sweep stroke on a track where the ball kept low.

What did Steve Smith speak to the reporters about?

The right-handed batter spoke to the reporters ahead of the third Test in Indore. He said, “I have played, what, 95 Test matches. I don’t think there have been too many times I have walked off the field and I have gone: “What the hell am I doing?” I was pretty angry.” 

Smith then spoke about his dismissal and how, with so much experience, he has never been that angry ever after getting out. He said, “There haven’t been too many times in my 95, 94 [Tests] whatever I have played [in my] career, I would have actually come off and been bedazzled by what I have done.” 

Smith also spoke about the furling setting and spoke about how they can do better about it in the next game. He said, “So yeah, it wasn’t my finest moment. But yes, something to certainly learn from. I am still learning as well. It wasn’t the way I wanted to play and particularly when I had the field set… all of us actually had the field out and get off strike. We probably just rushed things a little bit and it’s something we’ll talk about tomorrow when we’ve got them on the ropes, we can slow things down.”