Keeping Kohli quiet would be key: Smith

chennai — Steve Smith reckons that keeping home captain Virat Kohli “quiet” would be key for Australia in the upcoming ODI series against India and promised that the contest will be played in “good spirit”.

Kohli is in red-hot form as he was the highest run-getter in the five-match series against Sri Lanka with a tally of 330 runs, which included two centuries and a fifty.

The Indian captain recorded his 30th ODI century during his splendid batting show in the Island nation, equalling Australian great Ricky Ponting’s record.

Smith, who has eight ODI centuries, said he was not too concerned about the gulf between him and the home captain but to be successful in in this series, they will have to get Kohli out cheaply.

“I am not too concerned about the differences with Kohli. He is obviously a very good player and has a phenomenal ODI record. Hopefully, we can keep him quiet as much as possible in this series. If we do that then hopefully it can go a long way in us having success on this tour,” Smith told reporters after a practice session.

When Australia toured India for a Test series early this year, the Bangalore match got mired into a controversy as Smith admitted to looking towards their dressing room for assistance on a DRS call and described it a “brain fade” moment.

Kohli had accused Smith of ‘cheating’ but the visiting captain promised there won’t be any controversy this time.

“I think it will be played in good spirit. It is a hard-fought contest playing against India. Looking back at the last one-day tour, I wasn’t on it in 2013. It was a big run fest from memory. Pretty flat wickets and big totals. We will see what we are presented with and it could be the same again.” India chose to rest leading spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja but Smith said the hosts still have a potent spin attack. — PTI