Steve Smith begins gearing up for pivotal India Tests with a duck; bounces back from lackluster performance with the bat

Australia's Test stars are currently showcasing their skills in the domestic Sheffield Shield matches, gearing up for the upcoming high-stakes summer series against India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. One of the major buzz topics leading up to the marquee series is regarding former captain Steve Smith's position in the batting lineup. The question on everyone's minds is whether Smith will stick to opening the innings for Australia or return to the middle order, where he has had immense success throughout his prolific career.

It is now confirmed that Smith will indeed be going back down the order. However, the start of his preparations for the big series hasn't quite gone to plan. Smith was dismissed for a Scott Boland while batting for New South Wales against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday and he had managed to score just three runs in the first innings of the match. It was a rather unusual dismissal. Smith had shouldered arms and the ball seemed to brush his front pad before going to the wicketkeeper.

However, there were some notable performances that India would be weary of among Australia's potential pacers for the series. Nathan Lyon could only get a wicket in each of the Victoria innings but Mitchell Starc picked one wicket in the first and six in the second. Boland, who picked Smith's wicket, has also looked good. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey ended Day 3 unbeaten on 123 off 163 balls while batting for South Australia against Queensland. This is the second consecutive match in which he has got to three figures.

Cameron Bancroft is considered among the frontrunners to open the batting for Australia with Usman Khawaja, now that Smith is moving back down the order, but he has hit a patch of poor form. He was dismissed for eight batting for Western Australia against Tasmania and this follows a pair of ducks he copped against Queensland earlier this month.