Pune win is past, it’s a new game tomorrow, says Smith

TIL Desk Sports/ Bengaluru/ Australia captain Steve Smith today said the big win in the series-opener in Pune is a thing of the past now and the tourists would look to start afresh when they take on India in the second cricket Test starting, here tomorrow.

Approaching the series as underdogs, Australia drubbed fancied India by 333 runs in the first Test inside three days in Pune to take a 1-0 lead. But Smith said they can’t afford to dwell on the past for long. “We can take a lot of heart from the way we played last week. The conditions were very tough and the way the boys adopted to the conditions was appreciable. But it is a new game and we will have to make a fresh start. We will have to start from ball one,” Smith told reporters at the pre-match press conference at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

By virtue of the win in Pune, Australia snapped India’s unbeaten 19-run winning streak. But Smith warned his teammates against complacency. “We know India are going to comeback hard at us, there is no doubt about it. They play very well at home,” he said.

Expecting the Bangalore pitch to be different from Pune, Smith believes batting effort in the first innings will show the way forward for his side in the upcoming Test. “It was a difficult wicket (in Pune) and we showed them we can compete in those conditions and, more importantly, we probably showed ourselves.”