"Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0. That can't happen anymore," Smith said with a wry smile.
A couple of months ago before the India sojourn, Australia captain Steve Smith spoke about pulling something off and drawing the series against the hosts. That changed to dreaming of winning after landing in the country. Now, that's changed to wanting to win.
It's amazing what a victory can do to turn an entire team's mindset around. Not many gave this inexperienced bunch of Australians any chance to even test the Indians, let alone beating them. The predictions by former players like Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly were loud and clear: 4-0.
"Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0. That can't happen anymore," Smith said with a wry smile.
It certainly can't. And this victory has now given the Australians the confidence that they can give the mighty Indians a run for their own money in their own backyard. The tag of underdogs, labelled on his team by Smith himself, can be taken away, for time being at least.
"It's only one game. It's a four-match series and we'd like to win the series," Smith said, the change in attitude from before the start of the tour pretty evident.
"For us it's about taking it one day at a time and continuing to worry about our processes. If we do that like we did in this game, hopefully the result will take care of itself. But it's going to be a tough road. We know India are going to come back incredibly hard. They're an amazing team particularly in their own backyard. They're going to come back hard. And we've got to be ready for it," he added.
As they seemed for this one. Australia had lost nine straight Tests in Asia before this game. They were whitewashed the last time they visited this country to play Test cricket.
But they brought none of those scars into this opening Test, and part of the reason was the team management backing some fresh blood to infuse life into the Australian deathbed in Asia.
Smith was aware of each of the above facts, but didn't let any of it affect his players.
"Coming to India, we hadn't won a game here in 4,502 days," Smith said with a chuckle. "I've been told those facts. So, it has been an incredibly long time. The guys have been excited by the opportunity to come and play here. We know it's a great challenge, and this game the boys were up to the challenge," he added.
There's little doubt they will be up for the next one in Bengaluru as well. The whitewash talks have been brushed aside.
One of my best knocks, says Smith
The occasion of Australia's famous Test victory made everyone overlook an important aspect of the third day's play: Steve Smith's century. It had five dropped chances and an LBW that India couldn't reviewed, but it was a knock that gave many a lessons in how to counter the spinning ball. No wonder, Smith put his 109 on Saturday right up there with his best Test knocks. "I obviously rode my luck throughout the innings, had a few lives. But you need a bit of luck on a wicket like that, and I was pleased with myself to score a second innings hundred in India, formulate some different plans than how I normally play. So from that aspect, I'm pleased with myself," Smith said.
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