Australia's premier batsman Steve Smith said the Indian bowling attack may not be at its "strongest" in Ishant Sharma's absence for the Test series but he'll still have to be very "watchful" against a pacer of Jasprit Bumrah's quality. 

Recovering from a side strain, experienced quick Ishant has been ruled out of what would've been his fifth Test tour down under. Without him, Bumrah and Mohammad Shami will have the responsibility to deliver as India's depth gets tested across four difficult Tests in foreign conditions. 

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Smith, who hasn't faced Bumrah yet in Test cricket, is excited and prepared for the much-anticipated clash in Adelaide, the venue for the first Test starting December 17. 

"I don't know if I will do anything specific but yeah (this will be the) first time I will have (to) face him (Bumrah) in long-form cricket," Smith said during a virtual news conference, as quoted by IANS. "But I think his skill-sets won't probably change too much."

"We know how he bowls. He has got a good pace. He has got that awkward action, very different to a lot of people. You got to be pretty watchful all the time and he is a quality bowler," he added. 

Filling Ishant's void will take some doing as one of Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj or Navdeep Saini will also have to perform in the third paceman's role. But Smith said the Indians overall possess enough quality, including the spinners, for him to never think of dropping his guard. 

"They are a good line-up. Pretty experienced. Shami has played a lot of cricket, Bumrah has played a reasonable amount of cricket. He is a quality bowler. Whichever spinner they use, (Ravichandran) Ashwin or (Ravindra) Jadeja or Kuldeep (Yadav), I am not sure - we'll wait and see, but they've all played a fair bit of cricket now," said the 31-year-old, who has been the toughest batsman to dismiss for Indian bowlers in recent Test history. 

"Their third quick hasn't played as much cricket whoever they go with there. They are all good bowlers and yeah, we are going to be at our best as a batting group. This summer, we are going to beat them."

"Ishant Sharma is probably a big loss for them. He has obviously played a lot of cricket now and he is a good bowler. So yeah, maybe without him, their bowling attack may not be their strongest. I am sure they would have loved him to play," Smith added. 

Smith would also have a personal score to settle with India having watched in agony when they retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the last trip. 

"I watched bits and pieces (of last series). It was difficult to obviously be sitting on the sidelines and not being able to go out there and making a difference. That was the toughest thing for me knowing that I could make a difference if I was out there," said the batsman who was serving his one-year ban for involvement in ball-tampering saga during the 2018-19 Australian summer. 

"That was hard but look it is an exciting series coming up. We are playing some good cricket, India are a terrific side, they have got some unbelievable batters and have a great bowling line-up. I think we (too) have a very good bowling line-up. I think it will make for a very exciting summer of Test cricket," Smith added.