Missing Steve Smith And David Warner For India Series Huge Loss For Australia, Says Adam Gilchrist

Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist has said missing Steve Smith and David Warner for the Test series against India at home this year would be a huge loss for Australia.

Australia batting line-up was built around Steve Smith and David Warner in the last few years. From 2013, the duo scored a whopping 35 per cent of Australia’s runs. Since 2013, Smith has scored more Test runs than anyone in the world, thumping 5940 runs, ahead of England’s Joe Root and Warner.

In terms of centuries since 2013, Smith also leads the pack with 23, ahead of Virat Kohli and Warner (18). To put that into greater context, since the home Ashes series of 2013-14, Warner and Smith have combined for 41 centuries – the rest of the team has 35.

After 64 Tests, only Don Bradman has scored more runs in Test matches for Australia than Smith, who has scored 6199 at 61.4.  Warner, on the other hand, has also been one of Australia’s batting mainstays, scoring 6363 runs at 48.2 in 74 Tests.

The last time India had toured Australia, Smith and Warner had scored 1,198 runs, helping Australia win the series 2-0. However, they will not play in the upcoming series due to the one-year ban imposed on them for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March this year.

And Adam Gilchrist rightly said that missing the two players will be huge for the hosts.

“It would be huge. Smith and Warner have provided the bulk of the runs in the Australian batting line-up for a number of years now. Without them, someone needs to step up and fill that void. So, it’s an opportunity for the rest of the batting line-up. So, clearly big shoes to fill. That will have a big impact on the series. We do still have a world class bowling line-up. With the three-four quicks and Nathan Lyon, it’s a challenging bowling line-up. The big challenge for Australia will be to get enough runs for the bowling line-up to defend,” he said.

Smith and Warner, meanwhile, made their return to field through the inaugural Global T20 Canada league. The duo also played in the Caribbean Premier League.