'Freak' Smith a man apart: Maxwell

Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell has been known to make jaws drop with his unorthodox stroke play, but even he was left speechless at the bizarre boundary his skipper Steve Smith hit in Friday's World T20 win over Pakistan.

Starting on off-stump and crabbing across to be almost off the pitch, Smith whipped extreme paceman Wahab Riaz behind square-leg for four to baffle the bowler, delight the crowd and send his teammates into hysterics.

"We were all absolutely losing it in the dressing room, it was hilarious to watch," Maxwell told cricket.com.au after play in Mohali.

"But that's just the freak of Steve Smith. He's an absolute class act.

"The way he manipulates the ball around the field is incredible.

"We were all talking about it in the change rooms that he was going to try and hit it behind square, and where he ended up standing was a little bit bemusing to the rest of us.

"If he (Wahab) had have bowled it anywhere near the stumps he was gone. But that's just the class and the form he's in at the moment."

Smith produced his best knock of the tournament, an unbeaten 43-ball 61, to guide his charges to a match-winning total of 4-193.

"Steve batted exceptionally well today but I am not surprised. I have seen him play T20 over here in the IPL and he does that all the time," allrounder James Faulkner said.

"He was a class act.

"After losing the first two wickets it was beautiful timing to get a bit of a platform."

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Smith had endured a lean series prior to his impressive performance on Friday, posting scores of 6 and 14 in the opening two matches, while against Pakistan, the right hander had scored just 28 runs in his previous five T20 matches.

"I think at the end of the day people see figures," Faulkner said. "Yeah he missed out the first couple of games but at the same time, every time he walks into the nets he hits the ball exactly the same. 

"That's the same with Shane (Watson, who scored 44 not out off 21 balls), he missed out in the first couple games but he came off a hundred (against India in January) three games ago.

"So it's no surprise he (Smith) whacked it tonight.

"It's such a fickle game, T20.

"You can be in red-hot form and not score any, and at same time you can get on a real roll that is hard to stop if you're the opposition team."

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