Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody feels under fire batsman Steve Smith is a "caged lion" who is ready to unleash his true potential in the remaining two Tests against India.
Smith, who won the ICC Test Player of the Decade award, had found his form ahead of the limited-overs series, but wasn't able to carry on the momentum in the longest format.
Moody backed Smith to come good in the Sydney Test and said the batsman is hell-bent on scoring runs in the new year.
"You have to look at his record, he is overdue, that doesn't give you any guarantees but what it tells us that there is a caged lion ready to burst out and there is no one more determined than him to make sure that he is scoring runs in the new year," Moody told ESPNcricinfo.
"There is always that talk between Williamson, and Kohli and Smith, so he will be very keen to make sure he remains in that conversation regularly," he added.
Earlier, Australia coach Justin Langer had backed batting mainstay Smith and warned Team India that great players do not miss out on scoring for a long period.
"Imagine how good we will be when he does start batting -- that's how I look at it. He hasn't had the best of series so far. He will be the first to admit that. My gosh, what I know about great players, the longer they miss out, the sooner they are coming good again," Langer said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
The right-handed batsman has been dismissed twice by India's spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin. His struggle against the off-spinner became obvious when Smith himself admitted that he allowed the spinner to dictate terms in their battle in the ongoing Test series.
The third Test is slated to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from Thursday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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