There won’t be a Jasprit Bumrah vs Steve Smith battle with the new ball in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Australia confirmed that Smith will not open in the five-match Test series against India that starts on November 22. Former Australia captain and the current chairman of selectors, Geroge Bailey, said on Monday that Smith had placed a request with captain Pat Cummins and head coach Andrew McDonald about a change in his batting order for the India series, and they agreed.
“Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position, and Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer,” Bailey told reporters while announcing the Australia ODI squad for the Pakistan series and the Australia A squad for the shadow series against India A.
Smith, who has had his best days batting at No.4 in Test cricket, decided to move up the order after David Warner retired from red-ball cricket, but the 35-year-old did not achieve the desired success. In eight innings as an opener, Smith yielded just 171 runs at 28.50 with a highest score of 91*.
Bailey also added that the move was considered before all-rounder Cameron Green was ruled out of the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy with an injury. Green had slotted in at No.4 after Smith moved to the top of the order.
“Pat, Andrew and Steve Smith had been having ongoing convers, separate to the untimely injury to Cameron (Green).
Bailey did not confirm that Smith will return to the No.4 spot but there is enough indication that he will. “Part of those discussions have been had and what it might look like,” he said. “But I guess once you do get moving parts, a lot of those conversations become null and void.”
Bailey did not rule out the possibility of Australia fielding an XI without a specialist all-rounder after Green was ruled out although Mitchell Marsh has been a regular figure in the Test side.
“You don’t know how each Test is going to play out in terms of the workload for the quicks, or how much of an impact Nathan Lyon’s going to have across the summer. We certainly have been and will continue preparing for Mitch Marsh to be able to bowl some overs as well, and that’s been part of his management and build for the last couple of months. So there’s other ways. There’s teams that have played, and we’ve been a team that has played, without an allrounder in the past. There’s more than one way to structure up a team.”
Who will open for Australia?
With Smith set to move back to number four, Australia need to decide who will open with Khawaja.
Once again, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw are seen as in contention, as is teenage sensation Sam Konstas.
The 19-year-old surged into the picture after twin centuries in the Sheffield Shield this month.
Harris, Bancroft and Konstas were all included in an Australia A squad Monday for two red-ball games against India A next month.
“We have another three-and-half or four weeks until that Test squad is announced and who is in it and in what order,” said Bailey. “How they line up will be determined.”