‘I probably can’t see myself coming back really’ – Steve Smith hints Ahmedabad Test could be his last outing in India

Former Australia skipper Steve Smith has hinted that the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad could be his last Test in India. However, he said that he will go series by series as four years is a long time. The 33-year-old will lead the visitors in the final Test as Pat Cummins decided to stay in Australia due to his mother’s illness.

Smith has been a pivotal batter for the Aussies in the Indian conditions. In his last outing in 2017, the New South Welshman was the highest run-getters among both sides with 499 runs in four matches, including three centuries to his name. He led his side to the famous victory in Pune by scoring a hundred in the third inning of the Test match.

When Cummins flew back to Australia, the vice-captain, Smith took over the captaincy duties when the visitors were trailing by 0-2 in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Under the latter, the World Number One Test side registered a big win in Indore and also secured their place in the Test championship final.

“I probably can’t see myself coming back really, if I’m being realistic. But we’ll wait and see, take it day by day, four years is a long time. I’ll enjoy this one, hopefully it’s a great crowd and we can entertain them and ideally finish the series really well,” said Smith as quoted by Perth Now.

“There’s plenty of dialogue there just talking about what’s coming up, what’s important. You want your best players available in particular for the big tournaments or big series. It’s just about going from series to series and seeing where everyone is at mentally and physically and trying to put the best team on the park as much as possible,” he further added.

‘If we get somewhere up around that (110,000) number, it’d be unbelievable’ – Steve Smith

The two-time World Cup winner also spoke about playing in front of a huge crowd at the Narendra Modi stadium, Ahmedabad as more than 100,000 people are expected to come to see the final Test. He said that he had never this much of people in the stadium before.

“It is a good chance of being a pretty cool atmosphere. A lot of the guys haven’t seen this stadium before. They’ve walked in today and it’s huge. If we get somewhere up around that (110,000) number, it’d be unbelievable, the atmosphere, Smith said.

“We know how loud some of these grounds are over here in India, so if there’s 100,000-plus out there, it’s going to be pretty loud,” he added.