Currently occupying the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for teams, Australia are all set to face India in a gruelling four-match Test series, starting February 9 in Nagpur.

Over the years, Australia have struggled on the Test tour of India, with their batters particularly finding it tough to tackle the spin bowlers.

This time around, the hosts have R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja as spinners in their ranks.

With less than a week to go for the iconic series, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has said that Akshar could pose a big threat to star Australia batter Steve Smith in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

"No doubt about that. He is definitely an Australian legend. If you look at Australian history as well, he is up there. He has troubled the Indian bowlers a lot, scored tons of runs. Even though you know that he has got a really solid bottom hand, but still he finds ways to score runs in front of the wickets, on the off and leg side. We need to have a proper plan," Pathan said in praise of Steve Smith while speaking on Star Sports.

However, he expects Akshar to trouble Smith, who has a Test average of 60.89 after 92 games.

"The challenge of Steve Smith will be there for Indian cricket but I think one guy, which I have a great feeling, who can actually have the numbers against him is Akshar Patel. If he plays regularly all the matches, the kind of trajectory he has, he can be a big threat to him,” Pathan stated.

"The line and length he bowls, the straight ball he bowls, he can bring the lbw or bowled into play against Steve Smith, especially because he uses his bottom hand a lot. A bowler who continuously bowls at the stumps can prove to be an alarm bell against such a player, that is Akshar Patel,” he added.

During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 while Dharamshala and Ahmedabad will stage the third and fourth Tests from March 1 and March 9, respectively.