Stand-in Australia captain for the 2 Test matches against Sri Lanka, Steve Smith has said that he vetted uncapped Cooper Connoly for the tour.

Speaking at the press conference during the squad announcement, Steve Smith said that he took a leaf out of India's book for the series.

Smith called upon the experience of playing India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2023 and said, in that series India played Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel together in the same line-up, which paid dividends for the hosts in subcontinental conditions. India won that 4-match series 2-1, retaining the BGT.

Axar and Jadeja have played 7 matches together winning India three of them. India lost two games with both players in the side - once in Indore against Australia and once in Hyderabad against England (2024), after which the duo never played together in the same line-up.

"I had a little chat to Ron and Dodders (coach Andrew McDonald and selector Tony Dodemaide) in here after the game," Smith said on Friday at the SCG ahead of his BBL return for the Sixers.

"I was quite big on someone like Cooper coming in, to be able to spin the ball the other way.

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"You watch India, they have Axar (Patel) and Ravindra Jadeja, [so] when a spinner gets tired or nothing's happening they can turn to another spinner. I like the fit, having a couple of spinners going each way, it matches up really nicely. He's a talented young kid and every opportunity he's got he's done really well," Smith further added.

Australia Squad vs Sri Lanka

Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster