Australia v India: Quarantine bubbles impacting Steve Smith’s form

Steve Smith refuses to blame the bubble for his poor run against India, but it’s hard not to, given how long he has been forced from his family.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 28: Steve Smith of Australia walks off after he was dismissed during day three of the Second Test match between Australia and India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 28, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Steve Smith will bring up a major milestone on day five at the Gabba Test – his 150.

Not runs, but days spent inside biosecurity bubbles.

Smith has become world cricket’s biggest bubble boy and it appears to have finally suffocated him.

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Steve Smith is finding life tough inside yet another bubble.

He hasn’t seen his wife, Dani, since flying to England with Australia’s white-ball squad on August 23.

Locked outside of normal society, his form has burst inside the bubble.

Smith found his hands on the eve of the ODI series, but since the white ball was put away he appears to have lost his edge, or at least his leg stump.

Test scores of one, one not-out, a duck and eight aren’t the Steve Smith we know.

Factor in Smith’s costly dropped catch at second slip on Sunday, putting down Ajinkya Rahane only to watch India’s skipper steam to 100, and it becomes obvious the one-time golden boy has gone pop.

Smith has 10 runs for the summer. That drop alone cost 39.

It is important to note India has bowled incredibly well to Smith, and the decline started after last year’s invincible Ashes.

Smith has scored more than 43 runs just twice from 10 innings since returning with the urn.

Last year New Zealand banged it in short and this year India has cramped him down leg-side.

On Sunday Smith was bowled by seamer Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday.

Jasprit Bumrah got the better of Steve Smith on Monday. Picture: Getty

Smith lost his line and went lean again. Since when does that happen?

Smith has spent the past four months going from bubble (England in August) to bubble (UAE for the IPL) to bubble (home for the India series), all governed by varying levels of draconian restrictions.

Pat Cummins and David Warner have also done the bubble trifecta, although Cummins was given a spell outside last month and Warner’s groin injury allowed him to breathe some fresh air.

In England, it was inescapable.

Players lived at hotels connected to the Southampton and Manchester venues, and couldn’t leave the premises.

Steve Smith (L) hasn’t seen wife Dani since August 23. Picture: Getty

Australia’s top six is playing with as much freedom at the crease as players were afforded off the field in that series.

In the United Arab Emirates for the Indian Premier League it wasn’t much better, basically only travelling between hotels and cricket grounds for matches.

Cricket Australia’s hubs have been slightly more liberating, relaxing and tightening the rules in alignment with real-world restrictions.

AFL chief medical officer Peter Harcourt has helped set cricket’s rules and footy clubs learned the hard way that life in the bubble isn’t the real world this year.

While it is true that cricketers are far more conditioned to hotel living – and that Smith’s lucrative IPL stint was of his own choosing – the batsman’s resilience dwarfs the requirements placed on footballers.

AFL premiership coach Luke Beveridge said he watched hub housemates North Melbourne, Essendon and Carlton “fall away” in front of his very eyes.

Players and officials from those clubs started to implode after as little as 40 days.

Richmond and Geelong threw parties to celebrate their 100th day in the hub, acutely aware how lonely life away from the real world could be.

But with three weeks remaining in the Border-Gavaskar series, Smith already has the grand finalists covered.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley effortlessly reeled off five players who struggled in the hub – Brodie Grundy, Jordan Roughead, Darcy Moore, Tom Langdon and John Noble.

“We all sweep it under the rug, and some of our rugs are up here (head height) at the moment,” Buckley said.

How high is Smith’s rug? No family for Christmas and no escape from his crumbling form.

“Living in a bubble is certainly easier when you’re playing well, there’s no doubt about that,” captain Tim Paine said on Christmas Day.

Nobody loves cricket more than Steve Smith.

But when there is no escape and you aren’t playing well, it is not surprising runs become increasingly hard to make.

Originally published as Australia v India: Quarantine bubbles impacting Steve Smith’s form