Will Steve Smith open batting against India in test series? Australia coach gives verdict after Smith's poor string of performances

Steve Smith amassed 51 runs in four innings in the two-match test series against New Zealand.

The future of veteran player Steve Smith‘s batting position in the upcoming high-voltage Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home later this year hangs in the air after a string of poor performances as an opener in test cricket.

After getting success in the past two series, India will visit Australia between November this year and January 2025 to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they have been retaining since 2017.

The Australian think tank made a massive change in Steve Smith’s batting position as he moved up to the opening slot for the test series against the West Indies following David Warner’s retirement from the longest format after the home series against Pakistan in January 2024.

Smith, who was earlier batting in the No. 4 position, saw a drastic downfall since that promotion up the order. The 34-year-old batter managed to smash just one fifty, an unbeaten 91 runs against West Indies in Brisbane. 

Will Steve Smith open batting against India? Andrew McDonald provides huge update

Australian head coach Andrew McDonald backed Steve Smith and hinted that the senior batter is set to continue in his new role at least until the home series against arch-rivals India later this year.

“They await (challenges against India), and I think it will be an internal motivator for him. He wants to open, it’s a position that he came to us around and we think he can make it work,” McDonald told cricket.com.au.

“If you’re bringing in a new opener and you gave them four Test matches, and then said ‘okay; we’re going to shift that after four Test matches’ would you think that’s fair or unfair? I think that’s reasonably unfair,” Andrew McDonald said.

McDonald also added that it will take efforts for any player to bring in changes to the current order of the line-up.

“That’s not to say there won’t be changes, but at the moment we’ve won two-nil here (against New Zealand), and had a 12-Test run where we won eight with (four) of those being away (in England and NZ),” McDonald said.

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