Our objective is to win this series: Smith

Asked about the absence of regular openers in both teams (Shikhar Dhawan and Aaron Finch), Smith replied it wouldn’t be a handicap for Australia. 

“Shikhar has been in fine nick for the last one year and has been providing good starts. I hope everything is ok with him. India still has a strong batting lineup and have options in KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane. I’m not sure who gets the nod but we are prepared for both,” added the Australian captain. Smith refused to reveal his team composition and said they would decide only on the morning of the match. 

“There is not much grass on the wicket. It’s difficult to say how it’s going to play on Sunday. As for our team, in spite of the absence of Finch, nothing much changes. Travis Head will probably bat at number four. I won’t give too much away other than that,” said Smith. All the ODI matches his team will play from now till the 2019 World Cup will give him a fair idea of the players’ quality. 

“We have around 30 ODIs before the next World Cup. We look at each series as an avenue to finding the right mix of players. As a team, we want to win major tournaments. This series will be another step towards that. That’s our main objective. Hopefully, the players here will put their hands up and win the matches for our country,” added Smith. Comparisons with Virat Kohli were inevitable but Smith tried to play them down. “I’m not worried about personal accolades. I think India plays a lot more one-day matches than we do. We are here to compete and win the series,” said the 28-year-old. 

Smith singled out chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav as someone to watch out for as the series progresses. “A few of our batsmen played against him in the IPL. He is a good young talent and can be difficult to pick at times,” added Smith.