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Would love to win a Test series in India: Steve Smith

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on Thu, Apr 9, 2020, 10:19 AM

Steven Smith said he would "love to win a Test series" against the No.1 Test side in their own den © BCCI

Ever since Australia toured India for the first time in 1956-57, the men from Down Under have found it tough to find success in the Asian nation. In 1956-57, Ray Lindwall spearheaded Australia to a 2-0 series victory, In 1969-70, Graham McKenzie, Ian Chappell and Ashley Mallett powered the visitors to a 3-1 series win. Australia then had to wait for almost 35 years to script another series victory in India. However, since 2004, India have once again held the upper hand against their formidable rivals at home, not losing a single Test rubber.

Steven Smith, the mainstay of the Australian batting line-up, observed that he would "love to win a Test series" against the No.1 Test side in their own den. In 2017, when Australia slipped to a 1-2 loss in a hard-fought series, Smith was the bedrock of the visiting side's batting line-up, finishing with three hundreds and 499 runs.

"I would love to win a Test series in India," Smith told New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi in a podcast organised by their IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals. "I think as an Australian cricketer we talk about Ashes, which is always big, the World Cup is big, but I think now India is the No.1 team in the world and it is a very difficult place to play Test cricket, so I would love to win a series there. Other than that I would not like to set too many goals, but take things day-by-day, series-by-series, just try to improve," he added.

Smith also showered praises on Ravindra Jadeja and said that he finds it difficult to decipher the spinner's methods on turning tracks of the subcontinent as the slow left-arm orthodox gets a few to skid off the surface and for the occasional delivery to turn.

"Jadeja in the sub-continent ... why is he so good because, he hits that good length and one ball skids on and one spins, and it just looks all the same out of the hand. I think consistency in length is key and then having at least one variation. So, I think for a leg-spinner, having a good googly, or a slider is crucial and for fingers spinners, being able to change the pace without changing the arm speed too much [is important]. I reckon there a few around the world who do that, Jadeja is one of them. He is very difficult to play," Smith said.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cricket calendar has been hit, with a string of bilateral series getting cancelled. This year's Indian Premier League also has been suspended until April 15, following global concerns surrounding the pandemic. Smith, who took over RR's leadership duties from Ajinkya Rahane in the 2019 IPL, hoped that the mega-event would take place at some point of time in the year.

"Plenty going on in the world at present, but hopefully we can get an IPL at some stage. The two seasons that I captained the Royals were both half seasons. Shane Watson gave me the captaincy in 2015 and then last year out of the blue, I took over at the back end of the season," he said.

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Would love to win a Test series in India: Steve Smith

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