“Joe Root is a great example of someone of similar age who has found a way towards the back end of his career to play better than he did for the front end of his career. These two guys are every bit as talented as Root and before the last couple of years have better records. So it’s all there for them.

“Kohli’s played well here in the past. This attack as well, with [Mohammad] Shami not being there, there’ll be so much emphasis on [Jasprit] Bumrah. India will use Bumrah no doubt on Smith as soon as he comes out. If I was captain I’d be bringing my best bowler back on for the best player in the opposition team straight away every time.”

Smith is 315 runs away from passing 10,000 in Tests, joining Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh among Australians.

“I’ve never really been one for milestones, but to tick off 10,000 would be pretty cool,” Smith told this masthead. “There’s only a handful of players who’ve done it in the past, so it’d be pretty cool to join that group and get past that milestone, hopefully I can do it this summer.”

He has been irked by suggestions of being past his best, focusing in on reactions to an lbw dismissal against the West Indian fast bowler Kemar Roach at the Gabba in January, when he was made to look ungainly by a ball that moved a long way.

At the time, the team was quick to run to Smith’s defence, and he said public opinion about the dismissal puzzled him. “Last summer Kemar bowled me one, and I got lbw, and the ball seamed in 2½ degrees,” Smith said. “If I’m hitting that ball I’m doing something horribly wrong.

“I heard a lot of comments around people saying, ‘He’s too far across’ or whatever, and I might be, but if I’m hitting that I’m doing something extremely wrong. Or I’ve guessed, and you can’t guess, you’ve got to play the line of the ball.

“There’s no doubt it’s more challenging for batters now, but it is more rewarding if you get a big score. If you’re getting a hundred now then … back in the day you had to score big hundreds to put your team in good positions, but if you’re getting 80 to 100 now, a lot of the time you’re putting your team in a good spot in Australia.”

One man in no doubt about Smith’s chances of a resurgence at No.4 is Marnus Labuschagne, who said that the former captain had the opportunity to reassert himself as the best batting decision-maker in the game.

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“I think it’s simple. He’s one of Australia’s best ever players and his most successful position is batting at four,” Labuschagne said. “So to have him back in a position where he’s comfortable, and he’s made a lot of his Test runs is perfect for us and in a big series there’s no one who plays the situation of the game better over his career.

“When you lose two wickets early, and he’s coming in and putting pressure on the opposition, he’s been amazing. Think back to how he played at Edgbaston when he first came back in 2019 and the way he played there, almost every game he was in in the first three or four overs. That’s what’s great about him.

“He can play so many different roles and that’s what makes him so valuable at four.”