India will come hard at us in second test: Smith

Bengaluru: Australian cricket captain Steve Smith today sensed a good chance for his team to retain Border-Gavaskar trophy by winning the second test beginning here tomorrow as the Pune win had given lot of confidence to his young side.Speaking to reporters, he said the team management had decided to play the same eleven that played in Pune in tomorrow's match and said the M Chinnaswamy stadium wicket looked good for a five-day game.However, posting a good total batting first will be crucial.

He said a good mix of fast bowlers and spinners can do the trick for Australia on this pitch as last two day's it is expected to turn and initially, the wicket would aide the fast bowlers.'We have a good mix of two fast bowlers, an all-rounder who bowls quick and two quality spinners as well.

' He said based on how the wicket played when India and England last played a test match.In first innings there were big runs scored and the pitch obviously deteriorated and spinner could come into play probably later on, he said.When asked what could be the change of approach on this wicket, Smith said the approach of his team would be to bat for long hours and build partnerships to get to a big score in the first innings.

On batting first or second after toss, Smith said he would prefer to bat first after taking into account that the first innings total in the last ten test matches here have been big. To a question, whether Australia had turned the tables over India after Pune win, Smith said India is going to come back hard and play very well in home conditions.'We know India is going to come back hard at us, there is no doubt about it.They play very well here at home," he said.

On a suggestion made by Merv Hughes that there should be neutral curators, the Australian captain begged to differ and said curators were doing their job around the world and it was not his wont to criticise the pitches.'It's 22 yards and both teams have to perform on it.
So from my point of view I don't have any issue," he said.

He said it was a valuable experience of playing IPL, even though it is T20 format that can help the visitors in longer version of the game also.On his IPL teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, Smith said it was nice to play with quality bowler."It's nice to play with him.He's a quality bowler and I think I have said it before, when I faced him in the nets he bowled leg-spin to me.So didn't give me many of his tricks there.But he's pretty cagey.He's a quality bowler," he said. (UNI)