New Delhi: Top Australia batter Steve Smith is comfortable with the idea of opening the batting for Australia in their crunch Test series against India later in the year.
India travel to Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting on November 22, with the aim of retaining the trophy.
A major obstacle in India’s way would be Smith, who has turned himself into an opener from being a long-time No.4 batter after the retirement of David Warner.
But the 35-year-old didn’t flourish at the top straight-away managing scores of only 12, 11* and 6 in his first three innings against West Indies earlier in the year.
But he came into his own in the second Test against the Windies with an unbeaten 91 off 146 balls, hitting nine fours and a six, though Australia lost the match.
Asked if he would remain keen to open the batting, Smith said he isn’t willing to think about it much and would do whatever the team asks him to do.
“You’ll have to ask the men in charge but I’m not fussed either way. Some challenging conditions with the new ball, in particular. So I would have liked to score a few more runs,” Smith told Code Sports.
“That’s the game sometimes but I played pretty well in the second innings at the Gabba where we couldn’t get over the line, unfortunately. It’s just a position to me so it doesn’t really faze me too much.”
Disappointment
With 9685 runs at an average of 56.97, including 32 centuries, Smith is one of the topmost batters of the current generation, which includes India’s Virat Kohli.
The right hander has been successful against India too, amassing 2042 runs at an average of 65.87 with nine tons and five half centuries.
But he has fallen down the pecking order in T20 cricket, and was not included in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad in June, which disappointed him, Smith said.
“I don’t know about international T20 stuff. You’ll have to ask the selectors there. I was disappointed not to be in the World Cup but that’s the way things go. They wanted all the big hitters.
“I’d love to be part of the IPL again, for sure. I’ll be putting my name in the hat so just have to keep scoring runs. You never know, we’ll see what happens,” he added.
Since the retirement of David Warner, Steve Smith has turned himself into an opener after being a long-time No.4 batter. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
