Australia captain Steve Smith, on Sunday, reckoned that keeping his opposite number, India’s Virat Kohli quiet would play a key role in his side achieving success in the upcoming five-match One-day International series.

Shrugging off the bad blood that ensued between the two sides from the Border-Gavaskar Test series earlier in the year, the 28-year-old thinks that the contest will be played in “good spirit”.

Kohli is in red-hot form coming into the series and was highest run-getter in the five-match series against Sri Lanka, which included two centuries and a fifty. The Indian captain also recorded his 30th ODI century in the Island nation, equalling Australian great Ricky Ponting’s record.

Smith, who has eight ODI centuries to his name, said he was not too concerned about the gulf between him and Kohli but stressed the importance to dismiss the latter 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.

When Australia toured India for a Test series early this year, the second game in Bangalore was soaked in controversy as Smith admitted to looking towards his dressing room for assistance on a DRS call – something that the No 1 ranked Test batsman described as a “brain fade” moment.

Kohli, at the time, stop short of calling Smith a cheat, but the visiting captain opined the upcoming series would be a far cry from the animosity that crept in between the two cricketing rivals. Smith said: “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.”

India chose to rest leading spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja but Smith said that the hosts still posses 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.”

Lehmann’s ‘rest’ was planned six months ago

Smith also revealed that it was already decided that coach Darren Lehmann will leave home post 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.”

The batting ace also hoped for leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who has impressed in each of his Indian Premier League campaigns, to come good, “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.”

Asked if playing an ODI series was ideal preparation ahead of the Ashes series to be played Down Under, Smith said there was plenty of time to think about the old rivalry.

He said: “I don’t think there is a problem with that. I know before the last Ashes series there was a one-day series here as well. There is plenty of time when we get back home and play some Shield games also and get ready for the Ashes.”

The skipper also praised former India all-rounder Sridharan Sriram, who works with them as spin consultant. “Sri has been really good. He has great knowledge about how to play in these conditions. He has helped the players, particularly the spin bowlers. He has great knowledge of the grounds in india. He has been really good for this group.”

Australia are scheduled to play against Board President’s XI on Tuesday while the ODI series-opener is slated for Sunday at Chennai.