Move on and stay positive. That’s the advice Steve Smith has for the Indian side, which is smarting from its nightmarish experience in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval.
Without doubt, the mindset with which India, minus their leader Virat Kohli, go into the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne would be paramount to their prospects of staging a comeback in the series.
“I think it’s important for India to keep moving forward, look at themselves individually as to what they could have done better. You need to reflect and see what you can do in the next games to have an impact,” Smith said on Tuesday at a virtual conference facilitated by Sony Pictures Sports Network.
“The other day (in Adelaide) we also saw some pretty incredible fast bowling. The best I have seen our boys bowl collectively for about five years. The length they were hitting was impeccable.
“But as far as India are concerned, you got to let it go and move on, and keep yourself in a positive mindset.”
Talks have already started surfacing about Australia opening up scars after India’s abysmal showing with the bat in their second innings in Adelaide. The batting debacle, thus, could affect the visitors’ game, Smith feels.
“Well, maybe... But again, every individual is different in the way they take their dismissals and how they think about the game after it’s finished.
“For us, it’s just about doing the things we know we need to do well. We’re not thinking too much about India and how they could come back,” the former Australia skipper explained.
Not just Kohli, but India would also be without one of their premier fast bowlers in the form of Mohammed Shami, who’s ruled out with a fractured wrist. So is this a perfect opportunity for the Aussies to go 2-0 up in the series?
“They have lost some experience with those quality players going. We’ll take a lot of confidence out of the way we played in the end (in the previous Test) and keep moving forward.
“Hopefully, we can replicate a few other things we did well in the last Test and improve on a few we feel we need to work on,” Smith said in response to a query from The Telegraph.
Assuming there was pressure on Kohli to stay back, especially after what transpired last week, Smith has full support for the India captain’s decision to return home for the birth of his child.
“It’s a milestone Virat certainly wouldn’t want to miss. I’m sure there would have been a lot of pressure on him to stay, but to stand up and decide to go home, credit to him.”
Duel with Ashwin
Dismissed for one in the first innings of the Adelaide Test after being foxed by Ravichandran Ashwin, Smith believes he will be able to put up a better showing against the off-spinner at the MCG, where his errors have been minimal so far.
“Ashwin is a world-class performer. Unfortunately, he got the better of me the other day, but I’ll hopefully learn something from that and play him better in the next game.
“I just nicked one that didn’t spin, though that was pretty well bowled. It was a side-spinner and just skidded on, but again, I didn’t play it well enough,” Smith said.
