There is a lot of excitement around Australia’s upcoming Test series against India. The reigning World Test Champions will host India in five Test matches.
India have won the last two Test series Down Under, while they have held onto the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy since March 2017.
With three weeks remaining for the highly-anticipated series, Australian skipper Pat Cummins has issued a warning to the Indian team, highlighting their defeat in the ongoing home series against New Zealand.
Notably, the Rohit Sharma-led side lost to the Kiwis by eight wickets in Bengaluru and 113 runs in Pune to concede an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. With this outcome, India’s remarkable streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories came to an end.
Cummins believes India's loss against New Zealand could deliver Australia an advantage heading into the blockbuster series.
When asked whether India's loss against New Zealand would give Australia a boost, Cummins said, "I hope so."
"I think any time a team's under pressure, it's not a bad thing if you're playing against them," Cummins told AAP at the launch of his book 'Tested' in Sydney on Tuesday (October 29).
"But they've been out here before and performed well. Our job is to try and keep them quiet, see how we go," he added.
Beating India in a Test series is one of the few things that haven't been ticked off in Cummins’ well-decorated captaincy record.
Pat Cummins, a veteran of 62 Tests, has never been a part of Australia squad, who won the Test series against India. No wonder, he is desperate to turn things around in the forthcoming series.
"It's kind of the one big thing that I want to tick off," Cummins said. "Particularly winning at home. Most Australians, me included, expect us to do well whenever we play at home. We've lost the (last) two series against them (in Australia), so this is a big one. We feel like our team's in a really good place, so we've got no reason why we shouldn't perform really well."
Cummins has led Australia in only three Tests against India and managed a victory in just one match and that was the all-important ICC World Test Championship final last year.
The team that wins the Border-Gavaskar Trophy could be well poised to earn a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s next year. India are currently heading the points table, followed by the defending champions Australia.
The marquee series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth and the action will then 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).
