Australia on Friday (May 1) dethroned India as the No.1 side in ICC Test match rankings, but coach Justin Langer said beating the formidable Indians on their own shores remains the ultimate goal.
Langer's wards have come a long way since the 2018 ball-tampering incident, retaining the Ashes in UK and continuing to progress in the World Test Championship ladder.
However, Langer realises his team will have to beat Virat Kohli & company away from home in order to earn the level of respect accorded to the past Aussie teams.
“We recognise how fluid these rankings are, but at this time it was certainly nice to put a smile on our faces," said Langer in a video posted by the ICC.
"We’ve got lots of work to do to get to be the team that we want to be, but hopefully over the last couple of years not only have we performed well on the field, but also off the field."
Australia perhaps came one good session short - on Day 2 of the second Test in Bangalore - of winning the Test series in India on its last trip three years back, going down 2-1 in the four-Test rubber. The team next travels for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2021-22 Indian winter season.
"Certainly a goal for us has been the World Test Championship ... but ultimately, we have to beat India in India and we’ve got to beat them when they come back (to Australia, later this year)," Langer said.
"You can only judge yourself as being the best if you beat the best and we’ve got some really tough opposition to come."
"Getting to No.1 is a great thing, but when you’re No.1, you’re always the hunted," the coach added. "We’ve been the hunters for a while, now we’re the hunted and we need to get better and better."
(Inputs from PTI)
