“It’s probably more difficult [to make on-field suggestions to the captain] here than in Australia … [In Australia] you can change something at the end of an over … you have a bit more time,” Smith said. “Whereas here, when I see something, it almost has to happen straight away because of the way the game is played; there is so much on each ball.
“So it’s difficult from that aspect, but I just try and make as many suggestions as I feel when I have a gut feeling. I feel like I understand these conditions well, but it’s definitely harder to communicate. I’m fielding at slip generally, Patty’s at mid-off – I can make hand gestures and things like that, but it’s not as easy as you’d like. So, that can be difficult. But ultimately, my job is to make things as easy as possible and help in any way that I can.”
Smith’s proactive captaincy has been widely lauded since the tourists won by nine wickets in Indore, and he explained that he was often shifting fields every ball, reacting to how the Indian batters were playing and trying to disrupt their rhythm.
“I like moving things around depending on what happens the ball before – that’s just how I like to do it,” he said. “At times me and Petey [Handscomb] were playing games where it was like wherever the ball goes, just move to that spot the next ball and go again.
“We were calling it ‘follow the ball’ basically. That might sound a bit silly for some people. But the angles created off the wicket, if a ball goes to a certain position, they might try and play it a bit differently the next ball, which can bring in another mode of dismissal.
“It might have changed their [the Indian batsmen’s] thinking. For [Cheteshwar] Pujara, that man that we put at bat-pad; he stopped a scoring option, and it felt like he [Pujara] played a little bit differently, which is what you’re trying to do on these surfaces. We’ve seen how quickly it can turn around if you get a wicket, it’s incredibly hard to start [an innings].”
Australia are almost certain to go in with an unchanged XI from Indore, with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green adding welcome balance to the side in concert with the three spin bowlers Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann.
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Smith said the prospect of a crowd topping 100,000 for the first day – as a show of pageantry for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he hosts his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese – promised to be memorable. He also saw the chance to finish the series 2-2 ahead of the World Test Championship final in June as a major incentive.
“I think 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 huge plus and positive for this group.
“I think it is a good chance of being in a pretty cool atmosphere. A lot of the guys haven’t seen this stadium before, they’ve walked in today, and it’s huge, obviously. I think it holds 130,000. If we get somewhere up around that number, it’d be unbelievable.
“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. And it’d be really just a great vibe and atmosphere out there to play in front of.”
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