Joe to go, Smith's fortunes to change: Ponting

Test legend Ricky Ponting is backing Steve Smith to turn his fortunes around and says Australia need their No.4 to stand up if they are to repel India's potent bowling unit.

Smith was out for eight on day three of the second Vodafone Test in Melbourne, bowled behind his legs by India's supreme seamer Jasprit Bumrah.

The right-hander entered the Test series having plundered a pair of 62-ball hundreds against India in the preceding Dettol ODI series having exclaimed to all who would listen he had found his hands while batting in the nets in the days prior to the start of the men's international summer.

But in four innings wearing the whites of the five-day game, Smith has mustered just 10 runs at an average of 3.33, the lowest average in the Australian camp.

While he's been out twice in unusual fashion – today's dismissal followed being caught at leg gully off ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for a duck in the first innings – Ponting predicts Smith's luck will turn.

And Australia desperately needs just that to happen for their champion batter, having been outclassed by India's all-round bowling attack which has put the tourists on the cusp of levelling the four-match series.

"He's not having much go his way at the moment," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"I think he would have liked to have his time over with his first-inning dismissal here, he would have played that differently.

"But he's one of the all-time greats of the game – everyone is allowed to have a few bad games here and there.

"The one thing I do know is that Australia need Steven Smith to stand up, especially against this bowling attack India have."

Ponting has been as surprised as anyone to see Smith's lean output with the bat, even picking the 31-year-old to be the series' leading run-scorer after his jaw-dropping performances in the preceding limited-overs campaign.

"The two one-day hundreds he made were as good as I've ever seen him play," he said.

"Knowing what he's like when he gets into that groove and as he talks about 'finding his hands', I thought that would flow over into this series and it hasn't yet.

"There's still potentially four more innings for him and we know that if he gets in and set he can make a big score."

While Smith is certain to get another chance in the third Test, opening batter Joe Burns might miss out if David Warner returns from injury.

Burns made a "panicky" four from 10 balls today according to Ponting and could have been out several times before he was caught behind by an unplayable delivery from Umesh Yadav.

To make matters worse for Burns, he reviewed the decision, thinking the ball might have brushed his back pad, but Hot Spot picked up an edge on the Queenslander's blade.

Burns now has scores of 8, 51no, 0 and 4 this series.

At the other end, makeshift opener Matthew Wade made a dogged 40 on Monday, to go with scores of 8, 33 and 30 in his first crack at opening the batting at first-class level.

Warner has been batting and running in the MCG nets during the Test, prompting Ponting to suggest he will return for the third Test, with Burns the man he expects to make way.

"The ball that (Burns) got was an exceptional delivery but if you look at that there are some technical issues he's going to have to work through and I'm sure he's continuing to work on," Ponting said.

"I know Justin Langer and (assistant coach) Andrew McDonald have been working with him on a daily basis around the defensive side of his game.

"Just reading the tea leaves and seeing what I'm seeing it looks like Warner is going to be fit.

"The amount of work I've seen him do the last couple of days suggest he's on track.

"If he is fit, the way that Wade is batting compared to the way Burns is batting, unfortunately I think it will have to be Burns that goes out."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT