Steve Smith freely describes himself as a "headcase" whose obsessive nature sometimes gets the better of him.
But as 2017 draws to a close with his side having reclaimed the Ashes, the Australian skipper's status as the world's best batsman has never been more certain.
Comparisons to Don Bradman have grown louder after Smith racked up 1000 Test runs for a fourth consecutive year, taking his average to 62.32.
Smith has also become renowned and increasingly emulated for his unorthodox technique, his constant fidgeting at the crease and his insistence on having everything just so.
"I'm a bit of a headcase when it comes to everything with my batting," Smith told ABC Grandstand in an interview aired on Boxing Day.
"For me, it's about the look almost more than the feel.
"If everything looks right, if my shoelaces are tucked up and I can't see them, if my feet look straight, my bat looks good behind my foot, then everything's usually alright and I start to feel good and like I'm ready to play."
An emotional character who has worn his heart on his sleeve throughout his captaincy, Smith has admitted to reading virtually everything written about him -- both positive and negative.
So it's perhaps unsurprising that a dropped catch in India continues to play on his mind months after his side fell short of reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Smith -- who scored a series-high 499 runs from four matches -- put down an opportunity in the slips early in Cheteshwar Pujara's innings during the second Test in Bangalore.
Pujara went on to make 92 and India squared the ledger on the way to a 2-1 series victory.
"I take everything very personally," Smith said.
"I try not to let things continue to play in my mind too much, you've got to let it go and stay in the moment, but I have played that over in my head a few times and thought things could have been really different.
"Obviously if we'd won that second Test match, we'd retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy and you never know, we might have gone on to win the next one or things might have been different."
