Relishing the challenge of squaring off against new Indian captain Virat Kohli in the fourth and final cricket Test here, Australian skipper Steve Smith on Monday described his rival number as an “emotional character”.
“MS Dhoni has been a terrific leader for India for a long period of time. There’s no doubt about that,” Smith told reporters in the pre-match press conference here. “We saw Virat Kohli take over the reins in that first Test and he did a pretty good job for them. He’s quite an emotional character and likes to get involved in a lot of decisions. I’m looking forward to this week again with India with another captain and hopefully we can close out the series well,” he said.
“It’s going to be a pretty big moment for me as well. It is a home Test and my favourite cricket ground in the world. I am really looking forward to leading the boys out at the SCG,” he added.
Australia have made one change to their playing eleven, with Mitchell Starc coming in for Mitchell Johnson, who sits out as a precaution owing to a hamstring strain. Asked if Johnson would have played had the series still been undecided, Smith said, “Probably.”
“He has got a little hamstring strain. There’s no secret that there’s a pretty big summer coming up and we want him to be fresh for the ODIs and the World Cup coming up. We don’t want to risk him and hopefully he’ll be right for those.”