Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke on Tuesday said Steve Smith still has challenges ahead as a captain and he has to find a way for his team to succeed.
"As captain, he (Smith) is challenged right now," Clarke, 36, said during a promotional event here. "He needs to find a way for his team to succeed. It's an important few months for Australia.
"He is a terrific batsman and has been that for a long time now. I feel alongwith Virat (Kohli) these two are the best batsmen in the world right now.
"As captain your first responsibility is to win games and give confidence to the team," Clarke, who replaced Ricky Ponting as skipper in 2011, added.
Asked how opener David Warner, who played his first-ever One-day International (ODI) in India on Sunday, would cope with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who got the southpaw's back, Clarke said: "David's been playing really well.
"He spent sometime in Bangladesh. It's hard to look at just one game. That too a 21-over game. He will find a way out. He always does. He will have a look of impact in this series. Hopefully in Kolkata one of those two guys, Steve Smith and Warner will come good," Clarke, who called time on his career two years back, said.
Despite India winning the first of the five ODIs against Australia, Clarke predicted a 3-2 verdict in favour of the tourists.
"One match doesn't make a difference. If the Aussies manage to win here (at the Eden Gardens in the second ODI), they can win the series 3-2. If they lose, I don't know," Clarke told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Australia had India on the mat to start off the series, shaving off the top order before Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya stitched together a 118-run stand for the sixth wicket to help India post a competitive 281/7 in 50 overs.
The Aussie innings was then affected by rain and they could play only 21 overs chasing a revised score of 164. They lost by 26 runs.
"Australia should've attacked when India were down in the dumps. They failed to do that," Clarke said.
Clarke and former Australia chinaman Brad Hogg, also present at the event, lavished praise on Kuldeep who not only took two wickets in the last game but also scalped four wickets on debut in Dharamsala in the fourth Test against the Kangaroos earlier this year.
"Kuldeep is very good," Hogg said. "He is an attacking bowler and spins the ball both ways. He has got a good wrong' un. He is very controlled, for a wrist spinner it's one of his strengths.
"To be accurate when you bowl from the back of the hand is very tough. He has got all the skills. He was brilliant in the test match he played.
"I was with him for two years in Kolkata. He always wants to learn. He has improved a lot.
"He showed (how much he has improved) in the Test match. He has lots to learn but has made a great progress. He will be something special. We will see a lot of him."
"MSD CAN PlAY 2023 WC"
Clarke is not ruling out the possibility of wicketkeeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni being part of India's 2023 World Cup plans.
"Don't ask me whether he will play in the 2019 World Cup. He will play in 2023," Clarke said smiling when quizzed whether the former India captain could play the ICC 2019 World Cup in England.
Whether Clarke meant it or not is anybody's guess, but the in-form Ranchi batsman who has led India to 2011 World Cup glory on home soil has been in good form lately.
It was Dhoni's 79 along with Pandya scoring a 66-ball 83 that helped India get out of a hole in the first ODI in Chennai.
India were down and out at 87/5 when the pair joined hands for a 118-run stand. India posted 281/7 and the Aussies eventually lost by 26 runs in a truncated match with only 21 overs of play possible and a revised score of 164 to chase.
Former captain Dhoni played important knocks in Sri lanka as well. Coach Ravi Shastri had previously asserted that Dhoni has both fitness and current form on his side and that the team will need him in the next ODI World Cup.