The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth.
However, the situation is a lot different this time around as the Indian team has landed in Australia on the back of a 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home.
The Rohit Sharma-led side lost the three consecutive Test matches in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai. This outcome also marked the end of their remarkable streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories.
India now need to win four out of five Tests in Australia to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final without depending on other teams.
With almost a week remaining for the series, former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar talked about India's chances on the tour of Australia.
"No team, including the champion West Indies of the past has beaten Australia 4-0 to the best of my recollection. They've got a very good captain Rohit Sharma who's always been somebody who's been able to lift the team up. Rishabh Pant has got the great ability to soak up the pressure. He just wants to go out there and enjoy himself, play to the best of his ability. Forget what happened against New Zealand, they've just got to believe that they can turn the tables on Australia like they've done on the last couple of tours to Australia," Gavaskar said in a video shared by Star Sports on social media.
On the other hand, Manjrekar opined that India need batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to stand up to do well in the series.
In the ongoing year, Kohli has accumulated 250 runs from six Tests at an average of 22.72 with just one half-century to his name while Rohit has amassed 588 runs from 11 Tests at an average of 29.40 with two hundreds and as many fifties.
"4-0, a distant dream, just take one step at a time and the first couple of steps, which is Perth and the next one in Adelaide are going to be India's toughest tests. We need Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, one of them, to have a great series. Problem for India is that the bowling which has been their great strength in the last couple of years, Shami missing," Manjrekar stated.
After the series opener 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).