Australia skipper Steve Smith on Wednesday revealed the secret behind his famous flick shot from outside off-stump that he played against Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz during a World T20 group stage fixture earlier this year.
Smith and Watson had already posted enough runs on the scoreboard to make it difficult for the fragile Pakistan line-up to chase when Shahid Afridi handed the ball to Wahab to bowl the 19th over.
As the left-armer started his run, Smith moved so far away from the off-stump he would have required a minute to return to where the wickets were.
Wahab, with all the three stumps to aim at and with Smith a mile away, instead followed the batsman who flicked his wrists to dispatch the ball to the midwicket boundary.
Wahab received heavy criticism for not aiming at the exposed stumps but, according to Smith, this would only have made his shot ‘easier’.
“You look at field …; (Wahab) was always going to bowl wide,” Smith was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“I genuinely think if he had bowled at stumps it would’ve been an easier shot.
“I could just tell where it was going to go.
“When you’re in the zone …; you can just tell where it’s going to go occasionally. That was one of those instances.”
It was not the first instance when Wahab had an unforgettable experience with an Australian batsman at the global stage.
During the World Cup quarter final in March last year the pacer delivered an extraordinarily fiery spell to Shane Watson in which the right hander had to see off a rally of fast, accurate and lethal short-pitched deliveries.
There is a chance cricket gets to see Wahab Riaz lock horns with the Australian batsmen once again when Pakistan take on the Kangaroos away from home at the end of this year in three Tests and five ODIs.
