"I haven't seen much of Sran's one-day cricket back home in India, but I saw him bowling in the IPL with Rajasthan Royals and he was quite impressive. He's a tall lad, swings the ball early and he's got a few change-ups - I've let the boys know about them," said Smith of his IPL teammate on the eve of the first of five-match ODI series starting here tomorrow.
"I know some of the young guys that are going to get an opportunity through IPL - the likes of Manish Pandey, who I think has progressed really well and played some good cricket of late. And obviously the experience of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma in the top order - they are pretty crucial wickets for us, and hopefully we can get them early," Clarke said.
The hosts have named an all-pace attack for the first of the five-match series.
More From This Section
"There wasn't much pace and bounce in it when we played against New Zealand. Hopefully, tomorrow it can have that," said Smith today, on the eve of the series.
"It looks a little bit soft at the moment, underfoot, but obviously we're still a day out from the game. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. Hopefully, it has more pace and bounce than in that Test."
(REOPENS FGN 22)
The 23-year-old left-arm pacer Joel Paris will make his debut tomorrow then, and it will be a special affair for him as the WACA is his home ground. 26-year-old Victorian Scott Boland will also be handed his first ODI cap as Australian named an all-pace attack with Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and James Faulkner filling up the numbers.
Talking about the inexperienced bowling attack in the absence of the retired Mitchell Johnson and the injured Mitchell Starc, Smith said, "We've got a pretty young, inexperienced bowling attack, but they've all been bowling well and I think it's a really exciting time for Australian cricket to see these young guys coming through. I'm sure they are going to relish the opportunity to bowl at places like the WACA and the Gabba."