IND vs AUS: Steve Smith punished by Cricket Australia before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25

Steve Smith is set to return to his preferred No. 4 batting slot for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.

The decision was confirmed by George Bailey, Australia's chairman of selectors. It is an expected decision after Cameron Green was ruled out of the entire Test season as he is set to undergo back surgery.

Smith has batted at No. 4 for most of his Test career and has a brilliant record at that spot. However, the 35-year-old decided to move up the order to open the innings after David Warner's retirement.

His move allowed Australia to play both the allrounders Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh in the same Playing XI. Green was given the No. 4 slot while Marsh batted at No. 6. Smith was the first one to put his hands up and wanted to overcome the challenge of opening the batting in red-ball cricket.

However, the right-hander failed to live up to the expectations and struggled with the new ball. He scored 171 runs in four Tests as a Test opener at an average of 28.50.

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George Bailey confirms Steve Smith's middle-order return

After announcing Australia's ODI squad for the series against Pakistan, George Bailey made it clear that Steve Smith will not be opening in the five-match Test series.

Bailey stated that the decision was taken by the captain Pat Cummins, head coach Andrew McDonald, and Steve Smith himself through joint discussions.

"Pat (Cummins), Andrew (McDonald), and Steven Smith had been having ongoing conversations separate to the untimely injury to Cameron (Green) anyway," Bailey said to the reporters.

"Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position, and Pat and Andrew have confirmed that he will be dropping back down the order for the summer," he added.

Cameron Green's injury is not the reason behind Steve Smith moving to No. 4

George Bailey also mentioned that Smith would have moved back to the middle order regardless of Cameron Green's injury. He claimed that the discussions regarding Smith's batting position had already happened before.

"Part of those discussions have been had and what it might look like. But I guess once you do get moving parts, a lot of those conversations become null and void," he added.

Steve Smith record at No. 4

With Steve Smith having moved down to his middle-order spot, he is likely to be at his best. The star batter has scored 5966 runs in 67 Tests while batting at No. 4 at an exceptional average of 77.65.

The 35-year-old is a great player in red-ball cricket and is exceptionally comfortable against both pace and spin. He possesses the ability to play long innings and can take the game away single-handedly once set.

Overall, he has played 109 Tests so far and scored 9685 runs at an average of 56.97 with 32 hundreds and 41 fifties. He has played 19 Tests against India and scored 2042 runs at an average of 65.87. He will be a key player for Australia in the five-match Test series against India.