Steve Smith expects subcontinent tours to be a big challenge

Former Australian skipper Steve Smith is expecting the subcontinental Test tours during the next World Test Championship cycle between August 2021 and June 2023 to be a big challenge for his teamAustralia are scheduled to play 18 Tests in the twoyear window out of which eight are trips to Pakistan and Sri Lanka next year followed by India in early 2023Ive had a look at the Future Tours Programme FTP and its pretty hectic so theres plenty to look forward to obviously including the Ashes and then tours to the subcontinent which particularly in Test cricket they challenge you physically mentally and emotionally Smith told cricketcomauTheyre great tours to be involved in and really test you as a player Im certainly looking forward to those added SmithThe last time Australia won a Test series in Asia was in 2011 against Sri Lanka 10 Since then they have been unable to clinch a series and have won just two out of the 17 Tests in the subcontinentSmith spoke positively of the World Test Championship concept and rued missing out on the inaugural final in Southampton Australia missed out on a spot in the WTC final after four points were cut from their tally for being two overs behind in the second Test against India at Melbourne in December last yearAlso ReadOmbudsman reinstates Mohammed Azharuddin as Hyderabad cricket presidentI think the WTC is a pretty cool concept to have more relevance in every game you play I think is greatWe were obviously very disappointed not to be in the final and over the last couple of years we talked about it being our focus of where we wanted to get to but we fell short So weve got some work to do as a team to give ourselves the best chance to be there next timeSmith admitted the Covid19 pandemic had wreaked havoc on the cricketing schedule In the runup to this years Ashes Australia will go into the marquee clash on the back of just one Test against Afghanistan in November It will be their first Test appearance after the Gabba Test against India in January 19On the other hand England will enter the Ashes with Tests against New Zealand lost 01 and five Tests against India starting August 4 and ending on September 14Its been a bit of a bizarre year obviously and Covid hasnt helped a lot of situations in every industry observed SmithBut yeah after our series against India I think England were going to play 13 Tests to our zero which seems a lotAs someone that loves Test cricket Id love to play as much as we can but Im not in control of schedulingSmith is undergoing rehab for a tennis elbow injury on his left arm which kept him out of Australias whiteball tours against West Indies and BangladeshAlso ReadlsquoBalanced wellequippedrsquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever