Australia star Steve Smith concedes he is preparing for what is likely to be his final Test on Indian soil.
Smith will lead Australia for a second straight Test in Pat Cummins’ absence, with the fast bowler having returned to Sydney to be with his seriously ill mother.
Approaching his 96th Test, Smith is unlikely to be back in India when Australia tour again in 2027. The 33-year-old has loved playing in India, scoring three centuries on Australia’s 2017 trip, and said it was his favourite place to captain in the world.
“I probably can’t see myself coming back really, if I’m being realistic,” Smith said. “But we’ll wait and see, take it day by day, four years is a long time. I’ll enjoy this one, hopefully it’s a great crowd and we can entertain them and ideally finish the series really well.”
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Australia could boast a dramatically different team in 2027, with Smith and the majority of the pace attack likely to be retired.
Steve Smith in a rage as he walks off in Delhi. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Smith said it was important Australia focused on the rest of this year – the Ashes and ODI World Cup.
“There’s plenty of dialogue there just talking about what’s coming up, what’s important. You want your best players available in particular for the big tournaments or big series.
“It’s just about going from series to series and seeing where everyone is at mentally and physically and trying to put the best team on the park as much as possible.”
If it is Smith’s final red-ball match in India it will be a spectacular way to go out.
Australia plan to embrace the expected chaos of a political meeting that threatens to overshadow the start of the fourth and final Test against India.
The opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series finale in Ahmedabad promises to be one of the most bizarre moments in cricket history when an estimated 110,000 people turn up to the stadium named after India’s current prime minister.
Narendra Modi will welcome Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese to the colosseum named in the Indian PM’s honour to celebrate “75 years of friendship through cricket”.
Preparations are already well under way inside the stadium, with signs and posters of Modi and Albanese being set up everywhere, even in place of where a sight screen should be.
The political pair will take part in a series of events before the Test, including being involved in an opening ceremony.
But rather than be daunted by the thought of playing in front of a world record crowd for a day of Test cricket, Smith is excited by the prospect.
The record attendance for a single day stands at 91,112 from the Boxing Day Test between Australia and England at the MCG in 2013-14.
“It is a good chance of being a pretty cool atmosphere,” Smith said on Wednesday. “A lot of the guys haven’t seen this stadium before. They’ve walked in today and it’s huge
“If we get somewhere up around that (110,000) number, it’d be unbelievable, the atmosphere. We know how loud some of these grounds are over here in India, so if there’s 100,000-plus out there, it’s going to be pretty loud.
“It’d be really just a great vibe and atmosphere out there to play in front of.”
Adding another layer of unpredictability into the mix, Australia remain unsure what pitch they will play on with India’s pesky curators preparing two surfaces.
India coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma undertook lengthy inspections of the centre wicket when the hosts trained at the Ahmedabad ground on Tuesday.
But after securing a famous nine-wicket win in Indore last week, Australia will back themselves to level the series 2-2 no matter which pitch is rolled out.
Travis Head and Steve Smith inspect the pitch in Ahmedabad. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“It’d be a huge achievement for the group, or any touring team that comes here to India and wins two Test matches,” Smith said.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it earlier in the series and give ourselves a chance to win but to draw the series here would be a positive for this group.”
Australia will likely enter the match with an unchanged XI after star quick Mitchell Starc and allrounder Cameron Green were crucial inclusions in Indore.
But Smith concedes the pitch will dictate whether they take their three spinners – Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann – into battle for a third consecutive Test.
Before the second Test in Delhi, Australia had played three frontline spinners in the same match just twice this century – in Bangladesh in 2006 and 2017.
“We’ll have a look (on Wednesday) and we’ll reassess, but it could be we name the team at the toss,” Smith said.
Clear as mud
Guest
so here's the revised history. Ponting quits after his second unluckyish loss in england. Katich becomes captain having just turned 34. he's only a year younger than Punter. but he's much fresher, he's only been back in the team for 18 months, he is hardened, wanting to squeeze everything out of his last 2-3 years. we make the impressive Marcus North his vice captain. he's only been in the team for a year but has 10 years FC experience. he's senior but not old and mature. Hussey is great mates with katich and they set a solid performance-based culture we draw the home Ashes in 2010-11. Katich leads us to India in 12-13 and Homeworkgate never happens. he understands soft tissue injuries so doesn't bowl watson into the ground over the years, prefers to have him as a successful opening batter who can be unplayable when cloudy overhead. Katich successfully oversees new batting talent coming in, Hughes, Khawaja and Smith, then warner, replacing Ponting (venerated), Hussey. and eventually clarke, Katich and watson. Katich wins back the Ashes in 2013. he retires, doesn't demand a farewell summer. North steps in with the vice captaincy expanded to two, with the impressive Usman Khawaja and the completely differently impressive Steve Smith getting experience. North announces early on that he only sees himself as a short term option. he gets an away Ashes in 15 and plays on to mid-2016. at that point there are various candidates for the captaincy. Smith. Khawaja. Adam Voges. they run with Khawaja, who is 30 and blooming. he gets tired of the grind after the 2019-20 series. Smith comes in just as covid hits. Shane Watson is the PM and handles covid with aplomb (demanding a review on the first and every day - see what I did there?) importantly, the transition from Ponting to Katich to North to Khawaja and finally a 30 year old Smith helps the team win without the overbearing aggression that some ex players and administrators demand constantly. sandpaperboy never happens. Langer never coaches. Maxwell plays 30 tests. Ed Cowan plays none. harmony returns to the world. Richmond win 5 straight flags. etc etc etc and watto the glorious achieves net zero, high speed rail, a treaty and even manages to raise Jobseeker and fix Medicare. moral of the story: it's that pesky Nthn Tasmanian wot ruined Australia!
Clear as mud
Guest
he also left school in primary school to focus on his cricket and only his cricket. well, almost
JGK
Roar Guru
Yep. Massive wasted opportunity by CA.
Pop
Roar Rookie
I would think he would have a good idea, of course injury can change everything. But there is such a thing as a life outside cricket, namely family. Travelling starts to become a grind and the point I was making was that the touring outside of Australia in 2026 isn’t appealing to an individual in the twilight of his career.
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Just emphasizes how disappointing the lack of preparation into this tour has been. It really was such a great opportunity to beat India at home. A preparatory test series in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh could have given the team a chance to acclimatise to conditions and finalise the XI. Instead we went in cold and paid the price and it’s such a long time until the next chance :unhappy:
Nudge
Roar Rookie
If you can do 15 or 16 years it’s pretty possible to think that you could do 17 or 18. As Rellum said above, it’s too hard to predict and I would doubt Smith would have no clue at the moment
Ad-O
Guest
37 ain't old for a batsman. He's easily Australia's best bat, I think he'll still be in the side in 4 years time.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I don't think it indicates that he has anything in mind. It would be odd if a 33 year old assumed he would be back in 4 years. He might be, Jimmy Anderson is turning 41 in a few months and is currently the world's top ranked bowler, but it's not odd for Smith to voice that it might be his last test in India.
Clear as mud
Guest
I thought Puj might be done but that was a classy knock last test, but for that captaincy and catch, he could still be batting.
Clear as mud
Guest
This is top level Smith we are seeing Plays into the idea that most guys aren’t ready for national leadership that early in their career, they haven’t earned it and aren’t tough enough or mature enough to cope with the internal and external pressures, while maintaining top XI playing standard (which Smith did in spades). As with many things in Australian history, it all might have been different if Ponting left earlier, someone else like North skippered for a few years, then someone else, and then Smith might have been captain at about 30.
Nobody likes a smarta*s
Roar Rookie
So Smith is going to retire before 2027 for sure, based on that quote. Fair enough. Go and make big bucks playing slog fest games matey. And who wouldn’t? The best batsman since Bradman? A toss-up between Graeme Pollock, Sir Garfield and Smith for mine. Or should that be two toss ups?
Linphoma
Guest
I can't see how the Prime Ministers ceremonials will influence proceedings.
Pop
Roar Rookie
I don’t think it is. Test debut in 2010. 15-16 yrs is enough for most at the top level
Rellum
Roar Guru
His retirement is too far off to predict.
Pop
Roar Rookie
Smiths retirement date. Just a prediction. Home Ashes 2025-26. When you look at the Future Tours program for Australia in 2026, after the home Ashes 2025-26, Australia have a heavy overseas program. A Tour of Pakistan 2026 first off; June 2026 Australia Tour of Bangladesh; Sep - Oct 2026 Australia Tour of South Africa. Interspersed at home , in Jul - Aug 2026 there is an Afghanistan Tour of Australia. For any test cricketer that is a LOT OF TIME out of Australia, in ONE YR. After a heavy 2026 would Smith go back to India in 2027. NO. I surmise Smith has already seen this and isn’t that excited about all the travel and commitment required. A Sydney 2026 Ashes test farewell in front of an adoring home crowd will be his last. Hopefully retaining the Ashes or winning them back.
Pop
Roar Rookie
There is the implied call on retirement before 2027. That’s how I read it.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
One of our best hope they give him a standing ovation :thumbup:
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Smith is quite young only 33, like Kohli, I am expecting both to be there in 2027 when Australia will visit next time and Smith will be leading that time as well.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Well said Pop
Pop
Roar Rookie
The Indians have prepared two wickets and won’t tell the Australians which pitch they are playing on. Gamesmanship taken to another level. Consequently the team won’t be named until just before the toss. Whatever pitch you play on Smithy, we will all remember your contributions in India. Particularly Pune 2017. Hope you leave India with a win and keep your record perfect when you replace Cummins.