WATCH: Steve Smith’s switch-hit in IPL 2017 that left MS Dhoni awestruck
MS Dhoni is not known for revealing his emotions on the field but there was one stroke of genius from Steve Smith that got even the usually unruffled wicketkeeper-batsman grinning and offering his nod of approval.
The Australian right-hander got the former India captain smiling and hailing his shot in a rare instance of them being in the same side.
The moment is from the final of the 2017 edition of the IPL where Dhoni was playing under the captaincy of Smith for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants against Mumbai Indians (MI).
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As Steve Smith executed an attempted switch-hit to absolute perfection under pressure, it even got Dhoni wearing a wry smile on his face and talking to the batter, presumably in high praise of him.
When Steve Smith got MS Dhoni impressed with a maximum
Dhoni’s look was that of a batting partner highly impressed with his teammate and skipper’s class and ability as a batsman.
With 40 runs required off 26 balls during the closing stages of the ultimate finale at Hyderabad four years back, Steve Smith opted to play a switch-hit against left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya.
Till then, Smith had mostly looked to anchor the innings, delay the risks and wait for the opportunities to pounce on. But as the asking rate climbed up and MI bowlers tightened up the screws, the Aussie great knew he had to do something different.
So, out came a memorable switch-hit that sailed over the backward point region for a maximum. Taking a bit of advantage of the skiddy nature of Krunal, Smith smashed a ball that was aimed for his middle-stump through the off-side for an important six.
Smith took the mighty MI and its highly successful skipper Rohit Sharma by surprise, hitting a lofted stroke in the opposite direction to their boundary riders.
With the third man up, there was no fielder placed deep behind square on the off-side for Krunal, whose plan was simply to keep plugging away at the pads of the right-hander.
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But to put him off, Steve Smith showed his genius, striking a maximum by going up and over the fielder present inside the 30-yard ring and getting praise from Dhoni, a master of the end-overs batting himself.
Sadly for Smith and Dhoni, however, RPSG lost the match by just one run at the end and missed out on a result that would’ve given the franchise a perfect ending to its two-year IPL sojourn.