India Vs Australia: Steve Smith wants to keep Virat Kohli quiet for good show

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Chennai, Sep 11: Australia skipper Steve Smith wants to keep his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli quiet in the upcoming limited-overs series to better their chances of winning the series.

Lamenting the bitter moments during the Test series between the two sides, earlier this year, Smith promised that the contest will be played in "good spirit".

Smith, who had a bitter exchange of words with Kohli during the hard-fought Test series, said he was not too concerned about the gulf between him and the home captain but to be successful 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 in Chennai.

The Bangalore Test got mired in 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 almost accused Smith of 'cheating' but the visiting captain assured 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."

Smith might have lost the series against Kohli but the right-handed batsman managed to have won the individual battle as he slammed two centuries in that series while Kohli's bat was silent in all the three matches he played.

Australian bowlers kept the Indian run machine silent all through the series and pushed the home side on the back foot. The Aussie skipper would be hoping a similar effort from his bowlers this time as well.

India and Australia will play five ODIs and 3 T20Is in a month long series.

India chose to rest leading spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja but Smith said the hosts still have a potent spin attack.

"This is a completely different format compared to Test cricket. Axar Patel has done well pretty well for them. (Yuzvendra) Chahal is in the squad as well. Kuldeep Yadav is a good bowler too. They certainly have some good spin options and we have got to play them really well throughout the series," Smith said.

"I think the One-day group has played spin pretty well for a little while. Obviously, we are still learning in the Test format and trying to improve. We are coming from a challenging tour of Bangladesh.

"Obviously the guys are learning and trying to improve. Not sure that the ODI wickets will present quite as much as spin perhaps as some of the Test wickets. We have to wait and see and adapt to the conditions accordingly." Smith also revealed that it was pre-planned that coach Darren Lehmann will leave for home after the Bangladesh tour.

"There are no issues. We will be fine. David Saker has been with us for a while now. It was announced about six months ago that Darren was going to take rest from this series and Saker was going to take over."

Smith also hoped that leg-spinner Adam Zampa would do well for them in the series.

"I hope so, he has got a pretty good record for us in the last year or two. He has got some experience playing in the IPL. We know what to expect from Zamps. If he gets his opportunity, he can hopefully have some success on this tour."