Barinder Sran was 'quite impressive', says Australia captain Steve Smith

Perth, Jan 11: He may be an unknown entity in international cricket but Barinder Sran is not quite unfamiliar to Australian captain Steve Smith, who says the rookie pacer has impressive variations in his armoury and was discussed in the dressing room.

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"I haven't seen much of Sran's one-day cricket back home in India, but I saw him bowling in the IPL with Rajasthan Royals and he was quite impressive. He's a tall lad, swings the ball early and he's got a few change-ups. I've let the boys know about them," said Smith of his IPL teammate on the eve of the first of five-match ODI series starting here tomorrow (January 12).

India could opt to hand their left-arm seamer Sran a debut, while Gurkeerat Mann and Rishi Dhawan wait in the wings. Thanks to his half-century in the warm-up match on Saturday, Manish Pandey looks set to bat at number five on Tuesday. (Kohli set to break De Villiers' record)

"I know some of the young guys that are going to get an opportunity through IPL - the likes of Manish Pandey, who I think has progressed really well and played some good cricket of late. And obviously the experience of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma in the top order - they are pretty crucial wickets for us, and hopefully we can get them early," Smith said.

Smith hoped that the pitch at the WACA will aid his seamers. The hosts have named an all-pace attack for the first of the five-match series. "There wasn't much pace and bounce in it when we played against New Zealand. Hopefully, tomorrow it can have that," said Smith today, on the eve of the series.

"It looks a little bit soft at the moment, underfoot, but obviously we're still a day out from the game. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. Hopefully, it has more pace and bounce than in that Test."

"It's traditional that we can use a left-arm seamer here who can use the breeze and swing the ball. The wicket looks like it'll be a good one. We are happy to start at the WACA and Gabba for the first two matches of the series. They have been fortresses for us in ODI cricket for a while. Obviously, the conditions are a bit different to what the Indians are used to back home and hopefully we can exploit that," he added.

PTI