The marquee series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth.
The Indian cricket team will travel to Australia for five Test matches next month. The much-awaited series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth.
In their last two tours, Team India had defied all odds and expectations to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. With three weeks remaining for the marquee series, cricket experts and former players have started sharing their predictions.
Recently, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden joined the bandwagon. He predicted a victory for the hosts, but not without a tough fight from the Rohit Sharma-led touring side.
"I say Australia is going to win but I'll also say this: Watch Team India go!" said Hayden in a Start Sports video.
The 53-year-old believes that Australia no longer enjoy a home advantage because of the drop-in pitches used by Cricket Australia over the past few years.
"I feel like there's less home advantage given the nature of the drop-in wickets than what had been previously there. There are three drop-in venues -- Perth, Adelaide, and the MCG (Melbourne)," Hayden added.
After the first Test in Perth, the action will shift to Adelaide (December 6-10), where both teams will face each other in a Day-Night Test. The last three Tests are set to take place in Brisbane (December 14-18), Melbourne (December 26-30), and Sydney (January 3-7).
"So you've got your two home venues in Brisbane and Sydney; those just happen to be the third and fifth Test match, which is a very different combination to any series that's been played there. I feel like at the moment there is probably not that much home advantage in the Australian summer anymore due to the wicket conditions," Hayden remarked.
Before the start of the BGT, India will play a three-day warm-up match against India A that will be touring Australia at the same time.