Steve Smith finds it hard to switch off from cricket for even few hours before India Test series

SYDNEY: Star Australia batsman Steve Smith on Sunday said it is "difficult" for him to switch off from cricket and stop shadow batting even for a few hours ahead of the marquee Test series against India.

Smith will be a key member of the Australian team in the much-anticipated four-match series beginning with the pink-ball day/night match in Adelaide from December 17.

"Even when preparing for a Test match it's important to have a little downtime and switch off, even if it's just for an hour over your Sunday morning coffee," Smith tweeted.

Even when preparing for a Test match it’s important to have a little downtime and switch off, even if it’s just for an hour over your Sunday morning coffee. This is not something that comes easy to me as I find it hard to stop visualising the game or shadow batting! #balance pic.twitter.com/jQZ6GiDHmv

— Steve Smith (@stevesmith49) December 13, 2020

"This is not something that comes easy to me as I find it hard to stop visualising the game or shadow batting!" The 31-year-old right-handed batsman goes into the Test series on the back of some impressive knocks in the limited-over leg of India's tour.

While he only scored 82 runs in the three-match T20I series, Smith smashed back-to-back centuries off identical 62 balls in two out of the three ODIs.

He ended the ODI series with 216 runs at an average of 72.