Sri Lanka vs Australia: Steve Smith happy to shed ‘Mr Fix-it’ tag for T20I series – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Steve Smith is eager to get rid of his safety-first-attack-later approach in the Sri Lanka series. The 33-year-old has been labelled ‘Mr Fix-it’ for his cautious approach in the shortest format. But the right hand batter from Sydney clarified he’s been given license to play his shots if he sees an opportunity.

“I’m pretty excited that the tag’s been taken off, to be honest with you. Diva (stand-in coach Michael di Venuto) actually told me the other day he said ‘we’re getting rid of that tag, that’s gone. Just go out and play freely. If you want to smack your first or second ball for six, go for it’. And I’m like, ‘yeah, that’s cool’,” Smith said ahead of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka starting 7 June.

“So now it’s just about going out and playing freely and trusting my instincts, which I think I’ve done well over any format for a long time, instead of being a bit more reserved and trying not to get out, which I don’t think the right way to play T20 cricket. They’ve got rid of that ‘Mr. Fix-it’ tag,” he was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Smith has been prolific in his Test and ODI career but T20Is has been his least impactful format. Yet, he’s collected 886 runs from 54 matches at an average of 26.05 with strike rate of 125.31.

Smith, who went unsold in the IPL auction, is 114 runs short of becoming the fifth Australian after Aaron Finch, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson to score over 1000 runs in T20Is.

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