Get down the track and put the spinners off their game.
That’s Steve Smith’s plan of attack for Thursday’s second Test in Abu Dhabi.
Smith was one of the few shining lights for Australia with the bat in last week’s first Test in Dubai, which Pakistan won by 221 runs.
David Warner hit 162 runs in the match, while tailender Mitchell Johnson made 98 and Warner’s opening partner Chris Rogers toughed it out with innings of 38 and 43.
Smith’s 22 and 55 didn’t match the output of some of his teammates, but he looked a class above most of them.
The 25-year-old veteran of 21 Tests is a delight to watch against spin, jumping down the pitch to stroke his first ball of the series through mid-wicket against left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar.
“I don’t see it as much of a risk. It is the way I have always played spin,” Smith told reporters on Tuesday.
“I like to get them doing something that they don’t like doing or particularly in these conditions they are going to have it over you.
“First ball I think you saw I ran down the wicket and got three runs.”
Smith says Zulfiqar and leggie Yasir Shah both rely on drift more than sharp turn.
Building on coach Darren Lehmann’s theme that Australia’s batsmen were too timid in Dubai, Smith says it’s important to stamp one’s authority from the outset.
“If you go out there and expect to see a few balls before you start doing your game plan that’s when you’re going to get into trouble,” Smith said.
“You’re going to have to do it from ball one.”
Smith says the turning pitches of India are vastly different to the slow-paced decks of the United Arab Emirates.
“In India the natural variation is the one that goes straighter,” Smith said.
“With these bowlers what we’ve seen is the natural variation is the one that spins.
“A lot of the batters have to look at that coming into this game, play a lot straighter.
“And if they are not going to go down the wicket, to cover the ball that is not going to spin and if it does hope it goes past the outside edge.
“You can learn a lot from the dismissal of a lot of the players in the first Test.”
Smith’s first innings of 22 ended with a soft dismissal, cutting a topspinning delivery from Yasir Shah to point.
“I said to myself before I came over here that I really didn’t want to play too many cut shots against the spin,” Smith said.
Smith said he replayed the shot over and over his head for about two hours.
“I don’t think I spoke to anyone. I was pretty disappointed,” he said.
Conditions were tougher on day five yet Smith thrived, scoring 55 before he chipped a sharp chance to short leg off Yasir’s bowling.
“I can take a lot out of it from the way I played and the way I handled the spinners,” he said.
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