Michael Clarke urges Steve Smith to buckle up, says Kolkata ODI will decide the series

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: An unimpressed Michael Clarke on Tuesday urged Australia captain Steve Smith to buckle up and find a way to lead his team's comeback in the series. The former Aussie captain also said that Thursday's Kolkata match will decide the course of the ODI series.

Australia lost the series opener in Chennai last Sunday by 26 runs by D/L method. The visitors were in control of the match after removing India's top five batsmen for 87 runs, but Mahendra singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya changed the course of the match.

Clarke, however, didn't see any fault in Smith's batting, despite the skipper making one off five balls.

"Smith's batting has been outstanding for a long time but his captaincy is challenged now. He needs to define the way for his team to have success," Clarke said.

But the former captain felt that Smith help his team to a comeback at Kolkata.

"It's high time that Australia make a comeback. I think this is the match that will decide the course of the series," he added.

Smith has so far played 10 ODIs against India, scoring 468 with the help of two hundreds and one fifty.

The second match of the five-match ODI series will be played at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Thursday (September 21). Either side needs a 4-1 win in this series to reclaim the top spot in ICC ODI rankings.

(With PTI inputs)