IND vs AUS | Not a bother if I have to play at No.3 but can’t play below No.4, admits Steve Smith
An injury to David Warner and a concussion scare to Will Pucovski has led to Steve Smith admitting that he has no issues playing at No.3 for the national team but can’t bat below No.4. He also added that the batting depth would be tested against a strong Indian bowling attack in the first Test.
As things stood after the second ODI, Australia had completed the ODI series win and looked dominating on the field against the strong Indian bowling attack. However, right from thereon, injuries started to play a bigger role for the home team as they had to lose David Warner to a groin injury ahead of the Test series.
While it was reported that Warner would be fit in time, his race against time failed which led to Will Pucovski becoming almost certain to debut at the Adelaide Oval. However, after a blow to his head, Pucovski has shown signs of concussion - which now puts him in a difficult situation to be fit for the first Test. In his absence, several reports suggested that the Kangaroos would be tempted to open with Marnus Labuschagne in a bid to fit in Cameron Green.
Responding to that, senior Australian batsman Steve Smith admitted that it won’t bother him too much playing at either of No.3 or No.4
"That (batting position) doesn't bother me too much. I"ve batted a fair bit at No.3. Any lower than 4 I wouldn't be overly happy. Anywhere up there I'm fine. When you bat at 3 you sometimes in the second ball of the game, that's the reality of batting there so, someone at 3 could certainly go up the top. Whether that's spoken about I'm not sure, but whoever bats wherever they've just got to do their job and that's to score runs," said Smith, reported Cricbuzz.
Alongside that, with incumbent Joe Burns suffering a lean patch of form, Smith reckons that it would be a great test for the home side’s batting depth. The added talks of a possible debut for the Western Australian all-rounder Cameron Green has the entire town talking.
“I think our depth is obviously going to be tested with Davey out and a few potentially new players coming in,” the former captain added.
However, the former Australian skipper was upbeat and determined to face the Indian bowling attack, adding that hopefully, they would be ready for the challenge this summer. In 2018, the trio of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah had wrecked the Australian batting line-up, with 48 wickets in the series. Smith credited that the trio form a great bowling attack but he believes the absence of Ishant would definitely would a big blow to their hopes.
"It's a good attack, obviously. They're experienced now, particularly Shami and Bumrah. Ishant Sharma is probably a big loss for them at the start. If he's not available for them in the first couple of Tests (Ishant has been ruled out of all four Tests)... he's played a lot of cricket now and is a good bowler. Without him, it may not be their strongest because I'm sure they'd like him to play, no doubt."
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