With the option of playing behind closed doors in consideration for the post COVID-19 world, out-of-favour Australian batsman Usman Khawaja reckons his countrymen will have a mental edge over India if the winter's scheduled Test series is indeed played in empty stadiums.
Khawaja shared an interesting take on the matter, especially as the Australian team would love to have the home fans' support behind them in their quest to try and regain the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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"It’s definitely an advantage (versus India)," he told Fox Sports News with a laugh on Saturday (May 9). "I remember the last time they came over for a one-day series, the roar for India was much bigger."
"Especially in Melbourne, the amount of expats they have over there, they flock in. And when India’s on top they really let you know it."
"It’s a really weird feeling. When you’re in India, you expect to be outnumbered massively but you can be outnumbered in Melbourne, as well as Sydney to some extent also," added Khawaja on how the Indian diaspora certainly plays its part in creating an imbalance in crowd support.
Australia will definitely have a score to settle, having lost for the very first time at home to India when Virat Kohli & company last visited down under during the 2018-19 season.
At the time, the home side was reeling over the absence of its two-best batsmen in Steve Smith and David Warner after they were banned for involvement in the contentious ball-tampering incident in South Africa earlier that year.
"They were clearly the better team last time, we hung in there but (Cheteshwar) Pujara was outstanding and Kohli led from the front as a captain," he said.
"Their bowling unit was as good as I’ve ever seen an Indian bowling unit, they really went toe-to-toe with our bowlers."
"Our bowlers are still in great form, though, and this time Steve Smith and Davy Warner will be in the side too, so a little bit of difference in the batting line-up," added Khawaja.
(Inputs from Reuters)
