ISLAMABAD: Australia vice-captain Steve Smith always wanted to play in Pakistan. Now, part of Australia’s squad on its first tour of Pakistan since 1998, he’s relishing the opportunity.

“It’s the first time a lot of us have been here,” Smith told reporters during a virtual press conference from the team’s hotel in Islamabad on Tuesday, ahead of Australia’s first practice session at Pindi Cricket Stadium — the venue for the first of three Test matches which starts on Friday. “It’s great to be back here and playing cricket. We’re really excited. We know how passionate Pakistanis are about cricket and we’re excited to get into it in a few days.”

In the wake of reports that Australia spin bowler Ashton Agar’s wife received a death threat on social media, Smith said the players felt “incredibly safe” in Pakistan.

Agar was warned against travelling to Pakistan, though the threat was deemed not credible following an investigation by the cricket boards of Pakistan and Australia and government security agencies.

Cricket Australia said extensive security plans were in place for such social media activity and that the threat was “not considered a risk”.

Smith said the team trusted the security arrangements in place.

“We’re aware of social media and the unfortunate events that can occur on platforms,” the 32-year-old said. “We’ve got a lot of people here working with us. We trust our security and everyone involved, and we’re feeling incredibly safe here in Pakistan. We’ll be guided by our security and the people that we trust around us.”

Top teams have refused to tour Pakistan since an attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians.

International sides recently started touring Pakistan again but in September New Zealand returned home after abruptly abandoning a tour minutes before the opening game in Rawalpindi following a government security alert.

England followed suit three days later, withdrawing their men’s and women’s teams from a tour in October citing the “mental and physical well-being” of players.

But the Australian squad held their first practice session on Tuesday after completing a 24-hour Covid isolation and providing negative tests.

The team are also being kept in a tight security bubble, travelling in armoured vehicles to and from the hotel and with more than 4,000 security personnel deployed specifically for the tour.

Smith informed he had fully recovered from a concussion last month, having landed on his head on Feb 13 while attempting to save a six on the edge of the boundary during a Twenty20 against Sri Lanka at Sydney. He missed the last three T20s against Sri Lanka before flying to Pakistan.

“The head’s progressed really well the last few days, so I’m feeling in a good space,” Smith said. “I’ve done a lot of stuff where I’ve got my heart rate up to a good amount and brought it down ... all part of the protocols of getting back to playing and had a couple of good hits in Melbourne before we came away.

“I’ve faced some side-arm and spinners. Today [practice] is just about ticking off facing fast bowling, and once that’s done, then everything should be fine.”

This is Australia’s first full Test tour in nearly three years since they beat England in the Ashes in 2019, and playing on unfamiliar Pakistan pitches will be a challenge for the visiting batters against the likes of fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.

Smith has a good record elsewhere in Asia, with 1,200 of his 7,784 runs plundered in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.

“Getting accustomed to the conditions is really important,” Smith said. “I love playing on different surfaces, and all the different challenges of playing on different surfaces around the world. Hopefully I hit a lot of balls in the next few days and find a nice rhythm going into the first Test.”

Having featured in Tests against Pakistan during their home series in 2019, Smith added that the Australians respected their opposition’s talent.

“We saw few players there and there seems to be a lot of terrific players coming through the Pakistani system,” he said.

But Smith, who is expected to be a batting mainstay for the tourists, said he was looking forward to some big scores.

“I love getting on a roll and being able to play a lot of cricket, and just finding my groove,” said Smith, who scored a whopping 774 in England in 2019, with three hundreds. “The last away tour, I performed really well in the Ashes and hopefully I can replicate something similar in this series.”

The second Test will be in Karachi from March 12-16 and the third in Lahore from March 21-25. The series is part of the World Test championship with Australia second between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The tourists will then return to Rawalpindi to play three One-day Internationals and a lone Twenty20 fixture.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2022