Cricket Appeal
WATCH: Steve Smith and Novak Djokovic plays cricket and tennis during ongoing Australia Open
Steve Smith is one of the finest cricketers of this generation. The former Australia captain has been one of the legends in Test match cricket over the years. The batter has been in cold form in the longest format of the game. Smith was part of the World Test Championship (WTC) final and the ODI World Cup 2023 winning side as well. He was even present in the 3-0 series win against Pakistan.
Ahead of the West Indies series the batter is taking a time off and has been spotted tennis with Novak Djokovic, who is in Australia for his first Grand Slam of the year. Former Australian captain Smith impressed the Serbian, who was awestruck by the batter’s talent. On Thursday he stepped onto the tennis court at Melbourne Park for a friendly match.
On the other hand, the Tennis great was also having some of the great moments while playing cricket during the break of the ongoing tournament. The clip of both Djokovic and Smith has gone viral on social media. Smith will lead Australia in the fifty-over series as regular captain Pat Cummins has been rested by Cricket Australia.
Here are the two videos
Novak Djokovic bows down to Steven Smith.
– Two of the greatest playing Tennis…!!!pic.twitter.com/kvsPhvJN4y
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 11, 2024
Novak Djokovic playing cricket. ?pic.twitter.com/ZEVJopZ272
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 11, 2024
Smith to open for Australia
The 34-year-old batter recently urged his desire to open the batting for the Aussies in the traditional format of the game, while speaking with ABC Grandstand, “I’m actually happy to go up the top,” Smith said. “I’m pretty keen if that’s what they want to do. I’m sure the selectors and Ron [Andrew McDonald] and Patty [Cummins] will have a chat after this game but yeah, I’m certainly interested for sure.” The batter’s urge has been respected as he is set to open in the test series against the Windies.
He has a higher Test average of 67.07 at No. 3 and averages 61.46 and has 19 Test hundreds at No. 4. in Test cricket, with eight hundred, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to bat there since 2017 when he scored three centuries in nine innings as captain in tough spinning conditions.