Smith keen to turn tables on Yasir

Australia’s prolific batsman Steve Smith has claimed that Pakistan’s leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s unique celebration after taking his wicket in the first Test between the sides at the Gabba in Brisbane has given him the motivation to play a more disciplined innings against the Men in Green.

The former Aussie captain revealed that he was now motivated to not give his wicket to the leg-spinner.

"It gave me a bit more motivation next game to not get out to him," Smith told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday. "So I will probably be a little bit more disciplined against him."

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Smith revealed that he had a system of rewards and punishment after each match inorder to maintain the standards necessary to thrive in international cricket.

"I always punish myself when I get no runs, just like I reward myself when I score runs with a chocolate bar at the end of the night if I get a hundred," he said. "So yeah, if I get no runs I always like to have a run or go to the gym or do something just to give myself a bit of a punishment."

The 30-year-old praised Shah for his spell on a pitch that did not offer a lot of assistance for the leg-spinner.

"I feel the times he (Shah) has got me out, I have been on a few runs," he said. "I have been slogging in a couple of second innings ones where I was playing some funky shots and stuff so I'm not too worried. I thought he bowled really well at the Gabba, got some good drift and a little bit of spin on a wicket that probably wasn't spinning that much, so bowled well."

Smith added that he was trying to play aggressively because of the situation and believed he would have played a longer and safer innings if the situation was otherwise.

"I probably do bat a little bit better when there is pressure on, for sure. The situation we were at was a pretty good one. I actually spoke to JL (coach Justin Langer) in the morning. I was like 'how should I approach this today, what do you think?' and he said 'do what you want to do'. I thought about being quite aggressive and it didn't work. It's fine with me. I know that batting, you fail a lot, so when you get in need to make the most of it," he concluded.