Sledging against India? Go for it, exhorts Smith

Australian captain Steve Smith raised the temperature yesterday ahead of the first Test against India, calling on his players to “go for it” with the verbal volleys and on-field aggression.
 India-Australia series are notoriously feisty affairs — the 2008 contest Down Under was almost called off following the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ incident as animosity between the old foes threatened to boil over.
 There was then further bad blood during India’s Test and one-day series in Australia prior to the 2015 World Cup when heated on-field exchanges led to several players being penalised.
 But the day after his team landed, Smith urged his players to do whatever it takes for Australia to win their first Test match in India since 2004 when the sides clash on February 23 in Pune.
 “I think each of our individuals play the way they play and if they want to get into a battle verbally then, if that gets the best out of them, go for it,” he told reporters in Mumbai.
 “It’s all about us making sure that as individuals we’re in the right mindset to go out and succeed and if guys want to get in those kind of battles then go for it. But in the end it’s about us playing on skill and making sure that our skills are in the best place for us to succeed in these conditions,” added the 27-year-old.
 Relations between the old foes neared breaking point nine years ago when Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was suspended for three matches for allegedly calling Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds a “monkey” during the New Year’s Test in Sydney. The ban was overturned when India threatened to quit the tour, claiming Singh had been wrongly accused.
 The hostility between the sides extended into India’s 2014-15 tour of Australia which saw India’s Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and the hosts’ Mitchell Starc, charged with breaching the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct.
 Australia opener David Warner, who had heated on-field exchanges with India batsman Rohit Sharma with the Australian telling him to “speak English” was reported in both the Test and one-day series.
 The Australians, who are coming in off a convincing Test series win against Pakistan, have not won a Test match on Indian soil in nearly 13 years but Smith urged his players to go out and achieve a career-defining victory.
 “I think all of the guys are really excited about what’s to come in the next six weeks. It’s a great challenge to play here in India.
“We know that if we can pull something off and win a series here we’ll look back in 10-20 years and it will be some of the best time of our lives,” he said.
 One of the key duels of the series will be between Smith and Indian skipper Kohli who is in the form of his life after scoring four double centuries since July. Kohli is second only to Smith in the Test batting rankings and the Australian captain said he had the utmost respect for his counterpart.
 “We’re trying to form a gameplan but I’m not going to tell you what it is,” he said. “He’s obviously a world class player. He’s been batting extremely well. He’s scored four double centuries in his last four series so he’s obviously a big player for India along with a lot of their other batters.”
 India, on a high after defeating Bangladesh this week to go 20 Test matches undefeated at home, yesterday named an unchanged squad for the first two Australia Tests from the one that beat their neighbours by 208 runs in Hyderabad. Bangalore, Ranchi and Dharamsala will host the other matches in the four-Test series in March.
 Smith said he believed a Test series victory over the all-conquering India side on home soil could provide the kind of memories that would inspire the country’s cricketers for generations to come.
 Top-ranked India are on a brilliant run, unbeaten in 19 Tests over a 16-month period with South Africa, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh all vanquished at home, while trips to Sri Lanka and West Indies also culminated in victories.
 By contrast, Smith’s side were thrashed 3-0 in Sri Lanka and lost the first two Tests of a three-match home series against South Africa before wholesale changes led to a consolation win in Adelaide and the new charges went on to sweep aside Pakistan.
 Smith believes Australia have learnt from those defeats and are now a much improved side. “You probably learn more from losing games than you do from winning, so I guess the last year has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride in regards to results,” Smith said, a week ahead of the first Test.
 The Australia captain was confident he had the attack to trouble an Indian batting line-up spearheaded by in-form home skipper Kohli. “I am confident, I think we have got a good mix of bowlers,” Smith said. “It’s important here to make sure you are bowling consistent areas and letting the wicket do the work, and getting the natural variation out of the wickets.
 “I think reverse-swing is going to be incredibly important in this series as well. Our two big quicks — Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc — are very good reverse-swing bowlers. They relish the challenge of playing against the best players in the world, and India have some incredibly good batters. So they are excited by the challenges of playing here as well.”
 The world’s second-ranked team have had a training camp in Dubai to prepare for the tour and Australia will also play a three-day practice match against an India A side from tomorrow, before they head to Pune for the opening Test from February 23.
 Smith said he also needed to maintain a fine balance between attack and defence to find success in India.
 “It’s about knowing the right periods and timing the periods right when to sort of take the foot off the pedal and to really go hard,” the 27-year-old said. “I think I have learnt a little bit of that in Sri Lanka.”

India name unchanged squad for first two Tests
India have kept faith with the 16-man squad that cruised to victory in the one-off Test against Bangladesh for the first two matches of the home series against Australia starting next week. The world’s top-ranked Test side are unbeaten in their last 19 contests and completed a comprehensive 208-run win against their South Asian neighbours on Monday in an ideal warm-up for the four matches to come against Australia.
 Fast bowler Mohamed Shami, who missed the last two Tests of the recent five-match series against England with a leg injury, was not considered fit enough for selection to the side named yesterday. Batsman Rohit Sharma, who injured his thigh during the one-day international series against New Zealand in October, only recently resumed training after undergoing surgery in England and was also deemed short of match fitness. Uncapped left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav replaced injured leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the squad for the Bangladesh Test and he retained his place for the first two Tests against the second-ranked Australians.
 Mishra hurt his knee while fielding during India’s Twenty20 win over England in Bengaluru on February 1. Pune will make its debut as a Test venue for the series-opener from February 23, before the sides move on to Bengaluru and two more new Test venues in Ranchi and Dharamsala.
Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya