Steve Smith's top priority: To keep Virat Kohli quiet

CHENNAI: The Australian team is in India for a limited-overs series with high 'hopes'.
Skipper Steve Smith, who met the media on Sunday, hopes to keep a raging Virat Kohli "quiet", hopes the wickets on offer are as flat as they were during the 2013 India-Australia ODI series, hopes his young batting unit "continues to learn" playing spin better, hopes to forge a winning combination with David Saker, who will be in charge of the team in the absence of coach Darren Lehmann and hopes it will be a series fought in "good spirit."
While the likes of Aaron Finch, Travis Head, James Faulkner, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Zampa - who all arrived on Friday - decided to have a hit in the nets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday morning, the rest of the Australian contingent which had landed late on Saturday took a day off from practice.
As Smith & Co were fighting tooth and nail against Bangladesh in the latter's backyard, Kohli's boys were busy demolishing Sri Lanka 9-0.
Kohli was in prime form in that series in Sri Lanka and Smith is wary of his "dangerous" opposite number. "I'm not too concerned about my differences with Virat (both personal records and batting styles in ODIs). He has a phenomenal record in ODIs (30 hundreds) and is obviously going to be dangerous. Hopefully we can keep him quiet as much as possible. If we do that, then hopefully that can help us go a long way in having some success on this tour," said the 28-year-old, who has eight hundreds in 98 ODIs.
Smith knows it isn't just about Kohli. "We have been following the India-Lanka series in bits and pieces. India are playing some really good cricket and are an excellent ODI side. It's a good challenge for us as it's always tough playing India in India," he added.
Even as the Indian selection committee decided to "rest" their two lead spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for the three ODIs, Smith termed it a "strong Indian side."
When asked if it was a surprise for them to see an Indian side minus Ashwin and Jadeja, who have been sensational against the visitors in the Test series earlier this year, Smith said: "It's a completely different format to Test cricket. Axar Patel has done pretty well for them, (Yuzvendra) Chahal is in the squad, Kuldeep Yadav is a good bowler too."
During the Australia Test series earlier, tempers flared after Smith's "brain fade" moment in the Bangalore Test, which saw him look up to the dressing room for assistance on a DRS decision. But Smith, with measured words, said this series will be played in good spirits.
"I think it will be played in good spirit," he said.