‘Respectful’, but fired up

– Australia will be as fired up as ever against India despite their new vow to play with a smile, captain Tim Paine said yesterday, while warning his pace attack not to get “too emotional”.

The teams meet in the first of four Tests at Adelaide from Thursday in the wake of a scathing review into the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

In response, the team produced a so-called Players’ Pact, urging Australians to “compete with us, smile with us, fight with us, dream with us”.

Paine has also pledged to shake opponents’ hands before each match as a mark of respect.

The Australians will be coming face-to-face with famously combative Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who thrives on the verbal banter and has never been shy of riling the opposition.

Paine concedes his pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins can get hot under the collar in the heat of competition, and urged them to not rise to any bait.

“I think our fast bowling attack ... if they play purely on skill, they’re going to trouble him,” Paine said of Kohli, who has scored five centuries in his two previous Test tours of Australia. –

Sydney