Australian skipper Pat Cummins has revealed that Steven Smith will return to his original batting spot of number four for the Border-Gavaskar series against India. After David Warner’s retirement, Smith has opened the innings along with Usman Khawaja. Smith has scored 171 runs in four Test matches at an average of 28.50 while playing against the West Indies and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Smith has a fantastic record while batting at number four, scoring 5966 runs in 67 Test matches with an impressive average of 61.50, including 19 centuries.

Smith has decided to go back to the number four position after all-rounder Cameron Green has been sidelined for at least six months as he has decided to undergo the knife for his back injury.

“Yeah we had a chat … we probably still hadn’t made our mind up and we knew there was a bit of water to go under the bridge. Also with Cam’s injury and a few rounds of Shield games … we chatted about it and I think it makes sense now. He was really excited by the challenge of opening last year and he’s really glad he did it, but I think after giving it a go, he thought he was best suited at four,” Pat Cummins said on 9News.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old youngster Sam Konstas scored twin centuries for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield. 

Speaking about the youngster, Cummins said, “I’ve seen a little bit of Sam. He obviously played really well last week, but he’s young and you really don’t know what someone is made of until they’re out there. If you keep scoring runs and doing well in domestic cricket it sets you up pretty well.”

The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.