Canberra, Australia

Australia great Steve Smith admits being ‘clueless’ over his batting position against India in the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar series Down Under. Since David Warner’s Test retirement earlier this year, Smith volunteered to open, only for him to become the pale shadow of himself at the top of the order. With the five-match Test series against India looming, Smith and the Australian Team are seeking answers to who would open alongside Usman Khawaja.

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Though Smith wanted to challenge himself by playing out of his regular position (number four), where he scored most Test runs and hundreds and averaged above 60, his numbers against the new ball suggest a different story. 

Khawaja, however, feels Smith is best at batting at number four for Australia.

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“I have no idea, there are conversations happening in the background,” Smith said in a chat with reporters, as quoted by Hindustan Times. “Usman, I think said that he likes me down at No.4. I think Marnus has similar thoughts. We will wait and see. I am happy anywhere, I'll bat wherever for the team, but we'll see what happens,” he continued.

With Cameron Green’s latest injury adding worries for the selectors, they have a hefty task to figure out who could open alongside Khawaja if not Smith. Though Matt Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris were a few names discussed ahead of the past summer, the hosts could either pick any one of them or continue with Smith at the top to accommodate Green (when fit) and Mitchell Marsh in the middle order.

Smith awaits Indian challenge

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Smith was the Australian captain when Australia last won the BGT (home or away) in 2014/15; having fared against them all this while, Smith knows what challenge awaits them this time. Considering Australia has lost to India twice at home (in 2018/2019 and 2020/2021), they have plenty to play for this time when the series gets underway in Perth on November 22.

Smith feels the five-match Test series gives every player a chance to show up and deliver, restricting them from hiding from anything, which makes it a mouth-watering contest.

“It's great that we are able to play a five-match series against them. You can't really hide in a five-Test series like you probably can in a two-match series. If someone gets the wood on you, it can be hard coming back from that. It's going to be a wonderful series,” Smith added.

While acknowledging the touring Indian Team’s mettle on the past two occasions, Smith admitted both teams are best in this format, and irrespective of the latest results, both want to qualify for the WTC Final and win it.

“We are probably the two best teams in the world at the moment in Test cricket. We played the World Test Championship final last year and beat them there. They have been great out here the last couple of times and played some really good cricket. Hopefully, we can turn the tables. It's been 10 years since we last won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. We need to do that this year,” Smith concluded.

(With inputs from agencies)