New Delhi: Australia’s star batter Steve Smith is confident of his preparation for their upcoming five-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India.
The right hander has been Australia’s mainstay for over a decade and is regarded as one of the current generation top batters. But he has recently not been at his best.
Even relinquishing his familiar No.4 spot to turn opener to replace the retired David Warner also didn’t fetch the desired results.
With the crucial Test series against India around the corner in which both teams will hope to pick up enough points to qualify for the World Test Championship final, Australia will hope Smith will be at his best.
“My last week in preparation has been really good. I feel like I’m in a nice place and moving really well, I’m really balanced at the crease, and I feel like my bat’s coming down a nice plane. So I was happy with the way about it tonight. It would be nice to have been out there a little bit longer,” Smith told SEN Radio on Monday.
The right hander scored 44 runs off 46 balls to help Australia win by two wickets against Pakistan in the first ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday.
“I’m ready. I’m ready now. Yeah, I could go out and play a Test match tomorrow, so I feel like I’m in a good place. I’ve had a really good week of training, came down here early and had a few hits.
“And I was just trying to get a few things right that I felt like I didn’t quite have in sync. And it all just clicked. And I feel like I’m in a good place now,” he added.
Smith has an impressive record against India, scoring 2042 runs in 37 innings of 19 matches at an average of 65.87 with nine centuries.
In the last Border-Gavaskar series, the former skipper scored 313 runs on home soil in 2020-21 season but couldn’t prevent his side from going down 1-2 in the series.
