Smith wary of in-form India

In another bygone era, attired in his princely robes and carrying himself with an air of the all-conquering monarch, Steven Smith would have had his subjects prostrating before him in deference to his seemingly unending conquests. 

Never mind that this is the 21st century and the tribe of monarchs has long since been consigned to history books, but the first hazy glimpse of the Australian captain is enough for the gaggle of reporters to prick their ears up and keep their eyes transfixed at the modern-day batting marvel. 

The Australian team that has set foot on Indian shores for a bilateral ODI and T20 series has traversed a sea of turbulence with grumblings of player revolt over a protracted pay dispute with Cricket Australia and the recent humbling experience of losing to Bangladesh for the first time in the Dhaka Test. It’s another matter that Australia salvaged some of the pride that it was forced to swallow by winning the second Test at Chittagong. 

At his team’s first press conference since arriving in India, Smith held the fort much like how he does at the batting crease and fielded the questions with aplomb.

Excerpts 

On their frailties against spin: In one-day cricket we have coped with spin without any difficulty. We are not a finished product yet in the longer format and we need to improve there. I’m not sure whether the ODI pitches for this series will take as much turn as they do in Tests. 

On the challenge of playing India at home: We are bracing ourselves for a tough series. We kept tabs on India’s performance in Sri Lanka where it had success across all formats. We are just back from a challenging tour of Bangladesh. I’m excited about this series. India is playing good one-day cricket and it has always been a tough opponent in its backyard. 

On the stray incidents that marred the Tests earlier this year: This series will be played in good spirits. It’s always nice to play in India. I was part of the 2013 ODI series and I remember it produced a run-fest and there were no sparks on the field. 

On the latest edition of Ashes: I have no problems with the scheduling of this one-day series before the Ashes. Even before the last Ashes that we hosted, we embarked on an ODI tour to India. We won that Ashes 5-0. There have been enough Sheffield Shield games lined up before the first Test in Brisbane. So, there is no cause for worry. 

On coach Lehmann’s absence: We will be fine in his absence. We have an able assistant coach in David Saker and we look forward to working under him. We knew well in advance that Darren wouldn’t be available for this tour and we have planned accordingly. 

On Kohli’s rich vein of form in ODIs: We know he is an outstanding player and owns a phenomenal ODI record. Hopefully, our bowlers can keep him quiet and that will brighten our chances considerably. 

On the fast-improving Zampa: I hope he will be our trump card. He is familiar with the conditions as he has played in the IPL. We are confident he will do well in this series. 

On the absence of India’s frontline spinners in Ashwin and Jadeja: We followed the Sri Lanka series and were impressed with how Chahal, Kuldeep and Axar Patel bowled. So, it’s not going to be easy even in the absence of Ashwin and Jadeja.