Courtesy: CSA

Courtesy: CSA

Born in Johannesburg on February 1, 1981, Graeme Smith, the former captain of South Africa, is celebrating his 44th birthday today. After getting into cricket at a very young age, Graeme Smith became an integral part of the U-19 national cricket team, getting named as one of the South African Cricketers of the Year for his performances in the 2001-02 season. It led to his international debut in Test and ODI cricket in March 2002 against Australia at home, and just a year later, Smith was appointed as the new captain of South Africa.

At 22 years and 82 days old, Graeme Smith led South Africa in his first match against Bangladesh in 2003, becoming the youngest ever captain, which came with a responsibility to rebuild faith in the sport and its players among the masses in the country after Hansie Cronje’s fixing allegation in the 1990s and 2000s. During the summer of 2003, Smith scored back-to-back Test double hundreds in England, showcasing his prowess as an exceptional left-handed batter. He ended up playing 117 Tests, more than 100 matches as captain, scoring 9,265 runs at an average of 48.25 with 27 hundreds and 38 fifties.

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Graeme Smith won IPL with Rajasthan Royals in 2008

In Graeme Smith’s captaincy reign, South Africa won Test series in Australia and England apart from drawing it in India. His ODI career was just as impressive, accumulating 6,989 runs at an average of 37.98 with 10 hundreds and 47 fifties. Smith also made 33 T20I appearances for South Africa, scoring 982 runs in 31.67 average and 127.53 strike-rate, but he wasn’t able to win an ICC silverware in his 12-year career, which ended in 2014 mainly due to recurring ankle injury.

As far as the Indian Premier League (IPL) is concerned, Graeme Smith played a key role in Rajasthan Royals’ inaugural title triumph in 2008 under Shane Warne before joining Pune Warriors for a brief time. After giving up on his playing career, Smith has ventured into cricket commentary before joining Cricket South Africa (CSA) as the Director of Cricket, while currently, he is the commissioner of the SA20, the premier franchise T20 competition in the country.

Graeme Smith continues to be a major player in the South African cricket landscape after taking them out of their wilderness in the early 2000s as their youngest captain in history.