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Steve Smith To Torment India Again? Warner Backs Him To ‘Get To’ 2027 BGT
Follow UsNot winning a series in India is the only achievement missing from Smith's CV
When Australia toured India in 2023 and slipped to a close 2-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the general consensus was that Steve Smith had set foot on Indian soil for the last time in Tests, and would finish his career having never won a Test series in India.
However, 2.5 years later, Smith is batting as well as he has in six years, and is amassing runs and tons for fun. At 36, he is largely a one-format player now, and suddenly the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy seems very much doable, with it being only 15 months away.
Smith’s former teammate David Warner believes that the Aussie vice-captain will be tempted to try and tick off the only thing missing in his CV.
“The one thing missing from him is winning in India,” Warner said, reported Fox Sports. “He knows his body now, he knows what he’s capable of – if he wants to get to that Indian series, he will.”
Warner also backed Smith to have a big Ashes 2025/26 campaign, and reckoned that the right-hander has ‘five tons in him’. Smith is in astonishing form in red-ball cricket right now, having scored 5 tons in his last 9 red-ball games. On October 29 (Wednesday), he began the new Shield season with a century in his very first appearance.
“If Smith gets on a roll and he starts scoring runs, it’s going to be a challenge for England,” Warner said.
“I reckon he’s got five centuries in him. He only had one (net session) the other day and came out and scored a hundred today; that’s Steve Smith,” he added.
Meanwhile, former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes captaincy will get the best out of Smith come the Ashes. Smith is expected to lead Australia in the majority of the upcoming Ashes due to incumbent skipper Pat Cummins dealing with a back injury.
“What’s always amazed me about Steve … is his ability to adapt to different conditions and improvise, even in the middle of a series, sometimes in the middle of an innings,” Shastri said.
“(Captaincy) will get the best out of him, that’s for sure. He’ll be tuned on, absolutely.”