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India will be fine without Kohli: Smith


Australia skipper confident India can cover the potential loss of Kohli in the fourth Test
Australia captain Steve Smith has no doubt Ajinkya Rahane will be able to adequately lead India in the final Test should captain Virat Kohli be ruled out through injury. Kohli will need to pass a fitness Test on his injured right shoulder in order to play in the series-decider in Dharamsala, with youngster Shreyas Iyer called in as cover. When Kohli left the field after falling heavily attempting to prevent a boundary midway through the opening day of the third Test in Ranchi, Rahane, as vice-captain, was instilled as the interim skipper for the next 89 overs.  Australia were bowled out for 451 under Rahane’s watch but Kohli returned in Australia’s second innings, barely fielding a ball at first slip during the visitors’ 100 overs at the crease. With Kohli racing against the clock to be fit for perhaps the biggest Test of his career, Smith expects Rahane to once again fill in as his counterpart. "I think (India) would be fine," Smith said when asked what the impact of Kohli’s absence would have on the hosts.  "I think Ajinkya Rahane would probably step up to captain their side.  "I thought he did a pretty good job last week when he was out on the field in Virat’s absence.  "I’m confident he’ll be able to do a good job for them."


 After India suffered a shock loss in the opening Test at Pune, Kohli and his charges upped the aggression in the next two Tests to the point where both sides had to be spoken to by the on-field umpires at certain times. Tensions bubbled over in Bengaluru when Smith suffered a "brain fade" by looking at his dressing room during a DRS referral while Kohli was seen to be mocked by Glenn Maxwell in Ranchi..  But without Kohli out there marshalling and motivating his troops, Smith expects to face a different, calmer India at HPCA Stadium starting Saturday. "(Rahane) was probably a bit more chilled out on the field," Smith said. "Probably not quite as emotional but I think he understands the game really well.  "I’ve been fortunate enough to play a fair bit of cricket with Ajinkya and he reads the game and understands the game really well so if Virat was to miss this Test match then I’m sure the Indian side will still be in very good hands."
Iyer's eye-catching tour match double-ton
 Kohli’s likely replacement is the uncapped Iyer who is no stranger to the Australians. In the tourists’ sole warm-up game in Mumbai ahead of the first Test, Iyer smashed an unbeaten double-century on a flat track at Brabourne Stadium. Iyer was fearless against the No.2-ranked Test team in the world, which was without Test new-ball pairing Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, hitting seven sixes in his whirlwind 210-ball 202no. Quick Single: Smith's timely blessing on final Test eve The 22-year-old has starred for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy – India’s first-class equivalent of the Sheffield Shield – and the confidence he gained from that "special" innings will certainly hold him in good stead if he makes his Test debut this weekend. "It was a really amazing experience, it was my first time playing Australia," Iyer told reporters last month after his epic knock.  "I think this was one of my best innings,"  "I really played nice strokes. I hardly got any chances while batting. Usually I get some lives."
Test Squads
India (for fourth Test): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Shreyas Iyer

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