Star Australia batsman Steve Smith believes India is one of the toughest places to play Test cricket and winning a five-day format series in the country is a major career goal for him.

“I would love to win a Test series in India,” Smith told New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi during a podcast organised by inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals.

“I think as an Australian cricketer we talk about like Ashes is always big, 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,” he said.

Talking about his other targets, Smith, who is currently the world’s number one Test batsman, said: “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. It has been a pretty long year with the World Cup and Ashes, a few away one day tours. So this rest is not the worst thing but hopefully it is for a few weeks. I am pretty keen to get back to playing.”

Smith also heaped praise on India’s spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, describing him as a difficult bowler to face in the subcontinent.

“Jadeja in the subcontinent... why he is so good because he hits that good length and one ball skids on and one spins, and it just all look the same coming out of the hand. I think consistency in length is key and then having at least one variation,” he said.

“So, I think for a leg-spinner, having a good googly, or a slider is crucial and for finger spinners, being able to change the pace without changing the arm speed too much. I reckon there a few around the world who do that, Jadeja is one of them. He is very difficult to play.”

Smith took over the captaincy from Ajinkya Rahane mid-season in the last edition of the IPL and he is keen to lead the Rajasthan Royals from the beginning if the cash-rich event, which has been suspended till April 15 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is held later in the year.

“Plenty going on in the world at present, but hopefully we can get an IPL at some stage,” said Smith, who has so far amassed 7227 runs in 73 Tests and 4162 runs in ODIs.

“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. Looking at having a crack at it full time and the Royals have a pretty good squad,” Smith said.