Chennai, Sep 11: Australia skipper Steve Smith reckons that keeping Virat Kohli “quiet” would be key for Australia in the upcoming ODI series against India. Smith also promised that the contest will be played in “good spirit”. Kohli is in red-hot form he was the highest run-getter in the five-match series against Sri Lanka with a tally of 330 runs, which included two centuries and a fifty.
The Indian captain scored his 30th ODI century during the series, equalling Australian great Ricky Ponting’s record. Smith, who has eight ODI centuries, said he was not too concerned about the gulf between him and the home captain but to be successful in this series, they will have to get Kohli out cheaply. “I am not too concerned about the differences with Kohl,” Smith said. “He is obviously a very good player and has a phenomenal ODI record. Hopefully, we can keep him quiet as much as possible in this series.
If we do that, then hopefully it can go a long way in us having success on this tour,” Smith told reporters after a practice session.When Australia toured India for a Test series early this year, the Bangaluru match got mired in a controversy as Smith admitted to looking towards their dressing room for assistance on a DRS call and described it a “brain fade” moment.
Kohli had accused Smith of ‘cheating’ but the visiting captain promised there won’t be any controversy this time.“I think it will be played in good spirit. Looking back at the last One-day tour, I wasn’t on it in 2013. It was a big run fest from memory. Pretty flat wickets and big totals. We will see what we are presented with and it could be the same again,” he said.
India are resting leading spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for the forthcoming series, but Smith said the hosts still have a potent spin attack. “This is a completely different format compared to Test cricket. Axar Patel has done well pretty well for them. (Yuzvendra) Chahal is in the squad as well. Kuldeep Yadav is a good bowler too. They certainly have some good spin options and we have got to play them really well throughout the series,” Smith said.
Source Tribune India
