Following the retirement of David Warner from Test cricket earlier this year, Australia’s star batter Steve Smith expressed his desire to open the batting in the longest format and his wish was granted by the team management in the home series against the West Indies.

While Smith registered scores of 12, 11* and 6 in his first three innings, he returned with an unbeaten knock of 91 in the second innings of the Gabba Test to nearly take Australia over the line.

In the subsequent away series against New Zealand, Smith amassed only 51 runs in two Tests with the best score of 31. His next big challenge in the new role will be against India during the five-Test series at home later this year.

With three months remaining for the India series, Steve Smith isn't too fussed about his batting position at the moment.

“You’ll have to ask the men in charge but I’m not fussed either way,” Smith was quoted as saying by Code Sports.

However, the right-hander acknowledged that he hadn’t maximised his output in the position yet, with just one half-century from six innings.

“Some challenging conditions with the new ball, in particular. So I would have liked to score a few more runs," Smith added.

“That’s the game sometimes but I played pretty well in the second innings at the Gabba where we couldn’t get over the line, unfortunately. It’s just a position to me so it doesn’t really faze me too much.”

Smith, who wasn’t considered in Australia's T20 World Cup 2024 squad, rued the lack of opportunity in T20Is, having played just four matches in the shortest format since the 2022 edition of the tournament.

"I don’t know about international T20 stuff. You’ll have to ask the selectors there," Smith stated.

“I was disappointed not to be in the World Cup but that’s the way things go. They wanted all the big hitters.”

Steve Smith though went on to prove his worth in the Major League Cricket in USA, where he was the leading performer (336 runs at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 148.67) for the title-winning Washington Freedom.

Having done well in the MLC, Smith is now hoping to attract the bidders in the upcoming IPL auction.

“I’d love to be part of the IPL again, for sure. I’ll be putting my name in the hat so just have to keep scoring runs. You never know, we’ll see what happens.”