IND vs AUS , Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024: After the retirement of David Warner, Steve Smith has played the role of opener for Australia in Tests. However, he has not been successful in this and now Smith has indicated that if the team selectors decide to remove him from opening, he is ready to bat in the middle order for the upcoming series. Smith has so far scored 171 runs at an average of just 28.50 while opening the innings for Australia in six innings of four Tests. However, this also includes his unbeaten innings of 91 runs, which he played in the second Test against West Indies at the Gabba. Smith himself also believes that he has not been able to do justice to this place yet.

Smith told Fox Cricket, "I am comfortable batting anywhere. I just have to perform well in important series and help the team. Hopefully the same will happen in the upcoming series." Smith said, "I have faced challenges with the new ball. I could definitely score more runs. This is part of the game but I did well in the second innings at Gaba but unfortunately, we could not win."

Smith admitted that the ten-minute turnaround between innings was the only part of opening batting that took him some time to adjust to. "When you only have ten minutes, it's a bit of a quick turnaround, you have to run out of the field and you have to come back quickly," Smith said. Australian selector George Bailey has suggested that there may be no changes to the team's top six ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India starting in November.

Smith is also part of the Australian squad selected for the upcoming ODI tour of England before the upcoming home Test series against India. India currently occupies the first position in the World Test Championship table while Australia is just behind India in second place. Another Australian opener Usman Khawaja has preferred Smith to bat at number 4, citing his excellent record in the middle order. Smith has scored at an average of 61.50 in 111 Test innings at number 4, which includes 19 centuries. Khawaja believes that Smith's presence at number 4 will be beneficial. He said, "When you send him to open, I think you are giving him a chance to get out early."

However, Smith impressed a lot in the recent edition of the Major Cricket League. He was the highest run scorer for the winner of this edition, Washington Freedom. Smith scored 336 runs at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 148.67. Smith seemed satisfied with his performance and he hopes that he will get a chance to play in the IPL soon. Smith said, "I would love to be a part of the IPL again. I will definitely put my claim forward, so I have to keep scoring consistently. Then let's see what happens next."