Steven Smith

Smith then focused on his batting, and the 2013 Ashes tour of England marked his revival despite an unorthodox technique built on a pronounced trigger movement and a shuffle across the stumps. He kept improving through the home Ashes and a tour of South Africa, both won by Australia, then excelled in a home series against India. By 2015 he was the top-ranked Test batter. That year he scored a double hundred at Lord's, helped Australia win the World Cup with five straight fifty-plus scores to close the tournament, and became Test and ODI captain, adding the T20I role within six months. His 2017 tour of India confirmed his range.

In March 2018, during the third Test in Cape Town, Australia were found guilty of ball tampering. The ICC banned Smith for one Test, while Cricket Australia excluded him from all cricket for a year, a sanction that also cost him the Rajasthan Royals captaincy and that IPL season. He came back through the IPL in March 2019, then made 379 runs with four fifties at the 2019 World Cup, where Australia fell to England in the semi-finals. In the 2019 Ashes he hit twin hundreds in his comeback Test, although a Jofra Archer bouncer in the second Test led to delayed concussion and Marnus Labuschagne took his place as a concussion substitute.

A lean spell followed until he ended a 14-match wait for a century in Sydney during India's 2020-21 tour, adding 81 in the second innings of a drawn match to earn the player of the match award. Appointed vice-captain under Pat Cummins, he led Australia in the second Test of the 2021-22 Ashes, scoring 93 in a 275-run victory. He made 121 as Australia beat India in the 2023 World Test Championship final and was picked for the 2023 World Cup.

In the IPL, Smith began with the Pune Warriors in 2012, moved to the Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and struck his maiden IPL hundred for the Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016. He captained that side to the 2017 final, which they narrowly lost, and returned to the Royals in 2019 after elbow surgery, regaining the captaincy late in the season.