GETTY Ben Stokes will spy on Australian captain Steve Smith during his £1.7m stint in the IPL

England's Test vice-captain has arrived in India for his £1.7million T20 stint with Rising Pune Supergiants where he will play alongside the Australia captain. And England's Test skipper is hoping his spy in the camp can come back armed not only with cash but some useful information ahead of this winter's Ashes.

GETTY Joe Root wants Ben Stokes to find out what Steve Smith's weaknesses are for the Ashes

England's top 10 overseas Test victories Wed, December 30, 2015 Express Sport takes a look at England's 10 best overseas Test victories Play slideshow Patrick Eagar via Getty Images 1 of 10 England headed to Sydney with the 2010-11 Ashes in the bag but a series win was at stake. Hundreds from Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Matt Prior set up a total of 644 before the seamers forced the tourists to an innings win

"Smith has become one of the best players in the world, in fact he is ranked as the best player in the world and is just racking up the runs for fun," said Root. "So the one thing Stokesy can do for us is make sure he finds a little weakness in Smith's armoury for us when we go down to Australia, if he can."

GETTY Joe Root is keen to get the lowdown on Steve Smith