India and Australia square off for the final time at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad on Thursday. The scoreline of the series stands in India’s favour as it reads 2-1. While India won the Nagpur and Delhi test matches, Australia won the Indore test to pull one back in their favour. A win for India at Ahmedabad will guarantee their place in the finals of the World Test Championships to face Australia.
The story so far –
Steve Smith last week created history by winning his 2nd ever test match in India. The 9 wicket drubbing at Indore gave Australia the chance to qualify for the finals of the World Test Championships. Ahead of the final test starting on Thursday at Ahmedabad, the Australian captain has dropped a huge hint on his potential future.
Smith believes this could be his last India tour –
Steve Smith replaced Pat Cummins as the skipper of the Australian side. Cummins had to go back home post the 2nd test to be with his ailing mother. Perth Now a news agency based out of Australia asked Smith if he will come back in 2027.
The Australian captain said “I probably can’t see myself coming back really, if I’m being realistic. 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."
Steve Smith sounds out caution for Team Australia –
2023 is a huge here for the Australian cricket team. After the Border Gavaskar Test series, Australia will play the World Test Championship finals. After that they play the 2023 Ashes series before, ending the year with the 50 over world cup in India.
Speaking to the media further, Smith said “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."
Huge game ahead on Thursday-
The Narendra Modi stadium will witness the Indian and Australian Prime Ministers grace the occasion. The Indian team is likely to give debut to Ishan Kishan in place of KS Bharat who has struggled with the bat. The inclusion of Kishan will be a like for like replacement for Pant. Another change India could bring about is Mohammad Shami replacing Siraj to partner Umesh Yadav at Ahmedabad. Australia meanwhile might go in with the same team that played in the 3rd test.