'It's been challenging so far' - Steve Smith opens up on his role as Test opener for Australia

Ace Australia batter Steven Smith has acknowledged the difficulties of being an opener in Test cricket but is determined to overcome the challenges he is facing. Notably, he has faced a tough phase in his new role at the top of the batting order since taking up the opening role following David Warner's retirement from red-ball cricket last Australian summer.

Cricket Australia's decision to play Smith as the opener sparked a debate when Cameron Bancroft, Matthew Renshaw, and Marcus Harris were in contention for the role. Notably, the change hasn't yielded the desired results for the 34-year-old, whose average of 28.50 in four Tests falls well below his career average of 56.97. He recently stated that he isn't overly concerned about his position as he believes he is still batting well.

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"I'm not reading too much into it. You know, I feel like I've still been batting well. A few things I'd like to fix up a little bit technically, but I've had that going throughout my whole career, and it doesn't really matter where I'm at in that respect. We'll wait and see," Smith was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Smith highlighted that the pitches he batted on as an opener posed challenges, with even opposition batters struggling to score. Citing this, he expressed his determination to overpower the barriers and contribute with runs.

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"It's been challenging so far. We've played with some tricky wickets, particularly new-ball wickets that have done quite a bit. It has been challenging. I'd love to sort of turn it around and score some runs up there, that's for sure. 

"Can't sort of underplay how difficult the wickets have been. A lot of the top orders that we've played against haven't scored a great deal of runs, and it hasn't been until the 30-40 overs-mark that we've seen the wickets get a little bit better and the lower order score some runs,” he added.