Is the real Steve Smith back?

Sam Konstas lit up Boxing Day morning on his debut, and it meant Australia had their best opening stand of the series. Crucially, that played a big part in Steve Smith coming in after 44.1 overs, when the team total was 154, and the ball was softer. He scored 140 off just 197 deliveries—the fourth-highest strike rate of his 34 Test centuries. It was also his fifth ton at the MCG, the most he has scored at any ground in the format.

At the Gabba, the situation was very different. Smith came in to bat in the 19th over, when the score was 38 for 2. He brought up his first fifty runs off 128 deliveries, while the next 50 runs came in just 57 balls. It was not his most free-flowing knock, particularly at the start, but it might have been the most important one at this stage of his career because he found his way back into form. It wasn't long ago that he was an opener, and out of form.

After the Gabba knock, Smith said that he has dabbled with his technique for about 15 years. He pretty much changes how he bat for every different game, depending on the surface.

That's Steve Smith, right? Not only is he the best Test batter of his generation, but he is also one of the best problem solvers we have ever seen in cricket. His ability to work things out is what distances himself from other merely normal great batters. 

So the question at the moment has to be: Is the real Steve Smith back? Or is this just a copy of the player we once saw, but one good enough to still make two hundreds in his last two Tests?

Nobody in the history of Test cricket has scored more centuries against India than Steve Smith. Seven in Australia, three in India, and one in England in the WTC final—all in just 43 innings combined. Joe Root is a close second, but his ten tons have come in 12 more innings than the Australian great. 

It should be remembered that Australia and England now play so many matches against India that their players would have great counting stats in those matches. But both Steve Smith and Joe Root are all-time greats.

However, only five batters have scored hundreds against India more frequently than Smith. Of course, the others don’t have as many centuries as him. One of those is Garfield Sobers, who is also an all-time great, plus an incredible player of spin with his quick footwork and power.

The Indian bowlers almost couldn't dismiss David Boon in Australia. He made three hundreds in one summer, and two in another. He also scored a hundred in India, averaging 65 in three matches.

Ian Botham made over a third of his career tons versus India in just 17 innings. His highest score came against them, and 23% of his career runs were scored in only 11% of his innings. Also, he made them quickly. He almost specialized in scoring runs against them. 

Younis Khan only played nine matches against India. That was probably good for those from the east side of the border, because he dominated them. He was a great batter overall, but was specifically excellent against spin. 

Everton Weekes made four hundreds in 27 Tests versus Australia and England, and scored seven against India in only ten. He made 1495 runs against them in 15 knocks, and less than that against England in 30. He was Bradman against India. 

So, there are a lot of players here who could claim to be the best batter against India. But clearly, Smith is in that realm.

He also likes to bat in the first innings of a Test, almost more than anyone in the history of the game. He has been allowed to do that twice in this series, and on both occasions, he’s made hundreds. 

The other thing that's become very noticeable about Steve Smith recently is that if he gets a cushion from the top order, he is absolutely fantastic. Remember, this was a player who was more of a number three than a number four at times in his career. But now, he really likes to come in when the ball is older. That was not always the case.

Back in the day, it didn't really matter when he came in—he was probably going to make runs. Nowadays, he does need a bit of a cushion. Australia's top order has not done well in the last few years. While he's not been in great form, he's also had to go in earlier.

None of this makes any sense when you realize he actually offered to go in and open the batting for a little while. But there's no doubt at this stage in his career he probably needs more support from his top order than he used to.

Australia hadn't put on a lot of runs when he came in to bat in the Gabba Test, but he wasn't in until the 19th over. That's not too bad a start on what was a new ball wicket. In this test, he came in the 45th over, when there were plenty of runs on the board.

Before the start of the series, Smith talked about how he hated getting out to offspin in Australia. Back in the 2014/15 series versus India, no spinner could get him out. He scored 296 runs off just 460 deliveries.

But in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy, R Ashwin had dismissed him thrice, while Washington Sundar got him out once. He scored 116 runs against spin at an average of 29 and a strike rate of 53 in that series.

This time, he has scored 79 runs off 119 deliveries without being dismissed against spin bowlers so far. You watch him and think he could face spin all day. Of course, we haven't had a wicket that's helped the spinners much, but he's looked much more comfortable against them. All of his dismissals have come against the pace bowlers.

As players get older, quite a few of them start struggling against spin a little more because you have to move quickly against spin, whereas against fast bowling, it's a lot more about reacting to the ball.

That doesn't seem to be what's happening with Steve Smith. If anything, he's probably playing spin now as well as he ever has. But he has struggled more against pace bowling in the last five years.