Smith looks to close out series well

Steven Smith couldn’t have had a better start to his captaincy, albeit as a stand-in for the injured Michael Clarke. He has led Australia to a series win and is the top-scorer from either side. The 25-year-old batsman spoke to the media ahead of his first Test as captain at his home venue, the Sydney Cricket Ground. Excerpts: 

On whether Mitchell Johnson would have played if series wasn’t decided: Probably (he would have played). He has got a little hamstring strain. There’s no secret there’s a pretty big summer coming up and we want him to be fresh for the one-dayers and the World Cup coming up.

On Kohli’s captaincy style: MS (Dhoni) has been a terrific leader for India for a long period of time. There’s no doubting about that. We saw Virat in that first Test match take over the reins there. He did a pretty good job for them. He’s a quite emotional character and likes to get involved in a lot of the decisions. I’m looking forward to this week again with India with another captain and hopefully we can close out the series well.

On delayed declaration at Melbourne: I said it last week that I didn't want to let India back in the series at all. I had this week in the back of my mind as well knowing how hard this week could be (coming back to a venue where Phillip Hughes was felled by a bouncer). To have the series wrapped up I think we can play a little bit more relaxed and not have that extra pressure of having to win this Test match. If the same situation (like on Melbourne) comes around again I'm sure I'll be a bit more aggressive.

On pitches being less spicy: I think the wickets have been pretty good to be fair. They haven't' played too many tricks. This wicket out here looks a bit drier and looks like it might spin a little bit in the second innings and take a bit of reverse swing.