Steve Smith still formulating plan to stop Virat Kohli

Mumbai: Steve Smith on Tuesday chose to keep his cards close to his chest as he did not reveal how Australia will tackle Virat Kohli in the four-match Test series, starting in Pune on February 23.

Australia, who will be chasing their first ever Test series win in India since 2004-05, will need to stop the Kohli juggernaut to triumph against the Indian side which has not lost a Test in their last 19 outings.

While it is not that other Indian batsmen have not performed, but Kohli is on top of his game, where he is reaching landmarks and breaking records consistently; the recent being, scoring double tons in four consecutive Test series to go past Sir Don Bradman and Rahul Dravid’s record of scoring double centuries in three Test series in a row. 

Although Smith was wholesome in his praise for Kohli and the other Indian batsmen, he hoped that Australia could formulate some plans against the home team.

“We are trying to find a game plan but I am not going to tell you what it is,” said Smith. “He (Kohli) is obviously a world class player. He has been batting extremely well and has scored four double centuries in his last four series. Obviously, he is a big player for India along with a lot of their other batters. They all are batting very well at the moment and they got a strong top six. So, hopefully we can formulate some game plans to get on top of them.”

The Australian team did not enjoy much success in the subcontinent recently. In fact, the Kangaroos were clean swept 3-0 in the Test series in Sri Lanka as Rangana Herath ran riot.

Smith, who was Australia’s leading run-getter in the Sri Lanka series, said that his experience during Sri Lanka tour will serve him better in the four-match series in India.

"You probably learn more from losing games than you do from winning. The last year had been a rollercoaster ride in regards to results. This team has come a long way. We are learning a lot, we are willing to put in the hard work to try and get the best out of us and best out of the team," said Smith.

"All the guys are very excited about what's to come in next six weeks. It's a great challenge to play in India. We know if we can pull something off and win the series, we look back at it in 10-20 years as some of the best times in our lives," added Smith.

While Smith backed his side to play their natural game, he also highlighted how he is planning to approach the India series as a captain.

“For me, it is about understanding the different times of the game. There are times in the game when you can attack a lot more and at times, when you need to defend a little bit and let the game take its course for a little while and try and keep things quite tight and when you get a sniff, you really go for it,” Smith said.

“I think that’s the important aspect of captaincy in India. It is about knowing the right periods and timing the periods right to sort of take the foot off the paddle and really go hard as well. So, I think I learnt a little bit of it in Sri Lanka,” concluded Smith.