Steve Smith, the world’s No.2 ranked Test batsman, was on Sunday winnowed out of the remainder of the T20I series against Sri Lanka after suffering a concussion following a heroic jump to save six in Super Over in the second match at SCG, Sydney. Teammates Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell immediately called for medical aid on an urgent basis to attend to Smith, who stood down grasping his head tightly.
In the final over, Smith was fielding in the midwicket when Maheesh Theekshana launched Marcus Stoinis in his direction. To catch the ball and throw it infield in a single order, Smith dived full length back only to bang his head to the turf. The incident happened during the final over of the match, with Sri Lanka requiring twelve runs to win the game in three balls.
The medical staff immediately attended Smith. He walked off without much assistance and did not field for the last two balls or the Super Over. He was seen roaming and talking to his team members in the dressing room following the victory of Australia after the super dramatic Super Over finish. The third T20I ODI will now be played on Tuesday after Australia gained a lead of 2-0 in the five-match series against Sri Lanka.
Smith tweeted about the current status of his concussion on Monday morning saying, ‘Thanks everyone for reaching out. My head has felt better but I will be ok.’
The right-handed batter has already been removed from the remaining three matches in the five-match series against Sri Lanka. Cricket Australia said that it is not looking for his replacement in the Australian squad when they play in Canberra on Tuesday. It also said that the 32-year-old would be subject to ‘low-level protocols’ for concussion recovery with an anticipated recuperation of a week.
In a statement, the official handle of CA tweeted, ‘(Smith) will be subject to low level protocols for the next few days and full recovery in next 6-7 days.’
The cricketer will have enough time to recover before starting on with the Pakistan Tour which begins with a Test on March 4 this year.
It is not the first time that Steve Smith went through a concussion- In 2019, he was ruled out of an Ashes Test in England at Lord’s by a Jofra Archer delivery. In 2020, he renounced after batting in Old Safford practice nets in England. Therefore, it was his third concussion in a period of two and a half years.
Smith revealed that he had a close shave in an ODI match against India in which he made a century to seal victory after suffering from vertigo and vomiting due to the formation of small crystals or ‘ear locks’.
Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood said,’ “It’s good to see him walking around now. He made his way off the field and he’s walking around changing now. So early signs are good.”
The star cricketer’s concussion comes just a day after another knock on the head was suffered by batsman Will Pucovski who’s going through a life-threatening career at just 24 years of age. He suffered a string of concussions in Adelaide during a warmup mishap with South Australian.
Edited By : Shrinkhla Goyal
Published By : K. Bindhiya Prarthana
