With India set to travel Down Under for a five-match series that will help determine who reaches next year’s ICC World Test Championship final, Australia are still tossing up whether former skipper Steve Smith will remain as opener or revert back to his more preferred batting position at No.4 in the run-up to the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series.

Smith has been a rock in Australia’s middle-order for more than a decade, but was moved up to an unfamiliar role at the top alongside Usman Khawaja with mixed success when fellow veteran David Warner retired from Test cricket at the start of the year.

Smith managed one half-century and averaged just 28.50 from four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand, with the 35-year-old’s best innings coming in a narrow loss to the Caribbean side in Brisbane when he managed an unbeaten 91.

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald remained tight-lipped when he was quizzed about Smith’s possible batting position during the crucial series against India.

“That’s the question on everyone’s lips, isn’t it? While we’ve got an eye to it, we haven’t made any firm decisions around that one,” McDonald was quoted as saying by Australian radio station SEN.

“There’s plenty of speculation around that. But in the background, I’d be lying if I said the conversation wasn’t happening. There are conversations around a lot of what ifs in terms of that Test summer that is to come. We’ll unveil everything, and we’ll let (Smith’s coach at domestic level) Greg Shipperd know what our plans are and then we’ll see what he does with his New South Wales side should Steve Smith play (Sheffield) Shield cricket,” he added.

McDonald is currently in the UK ahead of Australia’s white-ball series against England having overseen their recent T20I series sweep over Scotland in Edinburgh.

With Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins skipping the European tour and instead resting at home, McDonald said that there was nothing concrete as far as Smith’s position is concerned.

“What am I willing to share? Not a lot at this stage. All I can say is the conversation’s happening. Clearly, Patty Cummins as the captain is a big part of that, he’s rehabbing at the moment, he’s not over here (in Europe,” McDonald said.

“We’ve already had some chats in Sydney initially about what we’re thinking for the summer, and that goes right down to depth bowling and what it looks like, all those hypotheticals and what ifs that we always go through.”

“Clearly, if we make a shift with Steve Smith, then someone else will have to go to the top. We’ve seen Cameron Green be really successful at No.4 as well. So that sort of adds layers to the decision-making. But nothing is firm and fixed on at the moment,” he added.

McDonald, however, asserted that Smith will remain in the XI even though the selectors opt for another specialist opener.

“Yeah, in my mind it does. Clearly there’s a few other selectors, and I don’t want to sort of influence the decision-making or thinking of (selection chair) George Bailey. But we’ve spoken about that, and we’re still a big believer in the best six batters and come that first Test match, who are the best six batters?” he said.

“We feel as though that the team that finished in New Zealand, should they get a clean run at it and be well prepared, then they would be the best-placed players to fill that, there’s no doubt about that,” he added.

The five-match series against India commences in Perth on November 22.