Chennai: Australian captain Steve Smith feels that they would need to keep his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli, ‘quiet’ if they are to succeed in the five-match ODI series starting from September 17.
He also assured that the series would be contested in, ‘good spirit’.
Virat Kohli has been phenomenal with the bat, especially in limited overs’ format. At present, he is right at the top in the rankings for ODI batsmen and also was the highest run-getter with 330 runs, in the recently concluded ODI series in Sri Lanka where he smashed two hundreds and one fifty-plus score. He also equalled Aussie legend Ricky Ponting’s feat of 30 ODI centuries.
The 28-year-old Smith, who has had his differences with Kohli in the past said that he wasn’t too worried about all that but instead maintained that they needed to dismiss the Indian captain cheaply so that they could dominate the proceedings.
After a practise session, Smith spoke to the reporters where he said, “I am not too concerned about the differences with Kohli. He is obviously a very good player and has a phenomenal ODI record. Hopefully, we can keep him quiet as much as possible in this series. If we do that then hopefully it can go a long way in us having success on this tour.”
Australia has toured India earlier this year and the second test match in Bangalore was where all the controversies began. Smith had pointed out to the Australian dressing room, seeking help on a DRS call which later he admitted, calling it a, ‘brain fade’ moment. Kohli, angered by this had went on to accuse the Australian skipper for, ‘cheating’.
But Smith assured that there wouldn’t be any more such things happening this time around.
He said, “I think it will be played in good spirit. It is a hard-fought contest playing against India. Looking back at the last one-day tour, I wasn’t on it in 2013. It was a big run fest from memory. Pretty flat wickets and big totals. We will see what we are presented with and it could be the same again.”
The Indian selectors decided to rest frontline spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin for this series and instead opted for the young spin bowling attack comprising Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.
Said Smith, “This is a completely different format compared to Test cricket. Axar Patel has done well pretty well for them. (Yuzvendra) Chahal is in the squad as well. Kuldeep Yadav is a good bowler too. They certainly have some good spin options and we have got to play them really well throughout the series.”
He also added, “I think the One-day group has played spin pretty well for a little while. Obviously, we are still learning in the Test format and trying to improve. We are coming from a challenging tour of Bangladesh.”
“Obviously the guys are learning and trying to improve. Not sure that the ODI wickets will present quite as much as spin perhaps as some of the Test wickets. We have to wait and see and adapt to the conditions accordingly.”
A day ago, it was made known that coach Darren Lehmann wouldn’t be joining the team for the series against India. While many thought this to be a result of the shock defeat at the hands of the Bangladesh in the first test match, Smith confirmed that it was initially planned that he would leave for home after the two-match Test series.
“There are no issues. We will be fine. David Saker has been with us for a while now. It was announced about six months ago that Darren was going to take rest from this series and Saker was going to take over.”
He also hoped that young leggie Adam Zampa would perform well in the series.
“I hope so, he has got a pretty good record for us in the last year or two. He has got some experience playing in the IPL. We know what to expect from Zamps. If he gets his opportunity, he can hopefully have some success on this tour,” he said.
When asked as to whether this ODI series is a preparatory one ahead of the Ashes, he said, ” I don’t think there is a problem with that.”
“I know before the last Ashes series there was a one-day series here as well. There is plenty of time when we get back home and play some Shield games also and get ready for the Ashes,” he opined.
Smith showered praises on former Indian all-rounder Sridharan Sriram who has helped them in his capacity as the spin consultant of the team.
He said, “Sri has been really good. He has great knowledge about how to play in these conditions. He has helped the players, particularly the spin bowlers. He has great knowledge of the grounds in India. He has been really good for this group.”
Australia would play against the Board President’s XI on Tuesday.