The World T20 is not too far ahead and while Steve Smith wants Australia to lift the trophy, he feels one man who stands between them and the Cup is none other than Virat Kohli.
"Virat is an absolutely terrific player. His numbers just speak for themselves. I think he's an incredible player in all three formats and I think we will see him break many records. He's already broken plenty of them and I see him breaking many more over the years.?He has the hunger for runs and doesn't stop getting them. Hopefully he can stop getting them against Australia, that'll be nice," Smith told TOI in an email interview.
"As a captain he's already made India the number one side in the world in Test Cricket. From what I have seen, he sets really good standards for them. He is a lot about fitness and is health conscious. He's got the Indian side into a really good place. He leads them exceptionally well," the man added.
Here are some excerpts:
I guess, hard work is the first one. I am obviously quite experienced now having played a lot of cricket. For me it's just about training my skills and making sure I'm in a good headspace to go out and perform and do what I can for the team.
?My job is to score runs for the team and fortunately in my comeback I was able to play really well in England and back home during the summer.?
At home, I probably did not score as many runs as I would have liked to, but I faced a lot of balls and helped wear the bowling attacks down and form some good partnerships, in particular with Marnus. I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty well, so overall not too disappointed but yeah would've liked a few more runs.
Marnus has come up by leaps and bounds in the last year. He has shown such quick and amazing improvement as a player who knows his game really well. We talk a lot about the game, he wants to learn and get better.?
Yeah, Andrew fits in really well in the Australian setup. He's got tremendous knowledge of the game and is a very cool character who is calm under pressure. I see him fitting in well with the Royals too. I have got a good rapport with him, which is important in a captain-coach relationship.
It's a terrific attack led by Bumrah who's the number one bowler in the world. He has been terrific upfront as well at the back end. I think they've got a very good attack, you add a couple of spinners, they're quality as well and makes them pretty well rounded.
The two of them are competing to be the best batsman in the world but there is a lot of respect between them. Both are in awe of each other and the debate as to who is better is going to go on for some time.?
One thing's for sure, any captain would love to have both of them in the side. Imagine a partnership between Kohli and Smith? One would really feel for the bowlers.?