IND vs AUS: Nothing’s impossible!

It may be a blessing in disguise for Australia that Steve Smith returns as captain in the third Test against India replacing a struggling Pat Cummins who has returned home to be with his seriously ill motherHis leadership may pep up the Aussie spirits after being twodown in the series as he has a vast amount of experience playing in India and understands the conditions far better than most players in the squad Also Australia have won both matches in which Smith has stood in for Cumminsmdashone against England in December 2021 and the other against West Indies in December last yearIndia captain unfazedBut the Indian captain Rohit Sharma was far from perturbed by Smith taking over the leadership ldquoWe have many things on our hands to deal with and we concentrate on our issues how we have to go about things in the Test match Our plans do not change with Smith taking over as captain We have to look at our strengths rather than be worried about who is the captain of the rival teamrdquo the Indian captain saidApart from his captaincy Smith is also a batsman of high calibre who can inspire the beleaguered batsmen in his side by example At the prematch media interaction Smith looked confident enough and seemed very clear about how to go about this gameWhether his taking over the reigns will change the fortunes of the team will be seen over the next few days at the Holkar Stadium here on a pitch similar to the one they encountered in the first two games in Nagpur and DelhiAlso readRohit breaks silence on Rahuls lean patch says his removal as vicecaptain doesnt indicate anythingSmith had led in three Test matches against India in Australia in 2014 winning one and drawing the other two He also captained the side in the 201617 series in India which Australia lost 12 At least he had the satisfaction of leading the team to a huge victory in the opening game in Pune before India turned things around Smith had a fairly decent record as Test captain till his reign was tragically cut short by that unsavory balltampering incident after which he was barred from captaincy for two years Till then he had notched up victories in 18 out of the 34 matches losing 10 and drawing the remaining sixExcited and confidentA confident Smith said ldquoIrsquom excited about leading this week in Patrsquos absence I know these conditions well Itrsquos kind of like my second home playing over here Irsquove played a lot in India I understand the intricacies of the game and what the wickets are likely to do Irsquom looking forward to itrdquoTwo things that Smith aims to do Firstly use more pacebowing options against the lowerorder with the availability of Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green against batters like Axar Patel Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin who have been a thorn in the first two gamesSecondly Smith said it was important the Australians didnrsquot get caught up in the momentum the Indian side could create at home particularly when their spinners start taking wickets and the crowd becomes frenzied ldquoWersquove got to slow things downrdquo he said ldquoBut itrsquos not easy Thatrsquos the way they go They know when they are on top of you Theyrsquoll try and rush you and play on their terms For us when wersquore under pressure itrsquos about slowing it down as much as we can maybe making them wait a little bit walk away and regain your thoughts rather than just coming back and backrdquoSurely the accidental return of Smith as captain has made things quite interesting and how successful he will be in turning things around will be seen over the next few days