South African great Gary Kirsten, who coached India to 2011 World Cup triumph, is confident that Australia will bounce back before the next mega ICC event in England, saying the Kangaroos are the genuine World Cup contenders and the ball-tampering scandal can’t deny the fact.

However, Gary admitted that the Australians may still be dealing with the outcome of the ball-tampering row and many raised questions whether they can defend the title after losing their key players Steve Smith and David Warner.

 Kirsten is confident that the Australia, who recently named Justin Langer as their new head coach, will come into the ICC event with a prepared squad as always.

As per reports in Reuters, Kirsten said, “You can never count Australia out of any big tournament. They are the most consistent team across big tournaments and I am sure they will be ready to compete at the next World Cup. All the teams have got closer and it really is open for any team to win the big tournaments. England are playing an aggressive and exciting brand of cricket and it has certainly put them in a great position to contend in all tournaments.”

The South Africa legend is all set to open an academy in the western Indian city of Pune this July. Gary signed off by saying, “This is our first international academy and we are really excited to begin with Pune. We will be building a state-of-the-art facility in Pune with an indoor training center as well as outdoor facilities catering for all year. There will be practical work done as well as theoretical work where our team will look to cover aspects such as leadership, tactics, strategy, and captaincy to name a few.”