Having whitewashed Bangladesh 2-0 in their last Test series away from home, Team India are still in the race to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final.

However, India’s remaining four Tests in this WTC cycle are at home against Australia, who are front-runners to make it to the final.

India will have to win at least three Tests and preferably avoid any defeat to secure a spot in the WTC final.

While Australia haven’t defeated India in a Test series since 2015, veteran India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik still feels that the hosts face an uphill task to qualify for the WTC final.

“I think it is going to be a hard one. I really think it is going to be an uphill task for India. To win three out of four Tests is never easy. That would mean playing to our strengths and assuming that Australia's weakness against spin will come through. But we have also not played off spin very well so it is a catch 22 situation for India,” he said on Cricbuzz.

However, Karthik believes that India hold an advantage in the bowling department, stating that the visitors only have Nathan Lyon as a quality spinner.

"They have to find a way to tackle off spin. Good thing is that Australia have just one spinner that they bank on. Whoever is the second spinner, whether it be Ashton Agar or Adam Zampa can be targetted.

“For the moment, we should bank on the fact that we have three quality spinners who on turning tracks will be a handful to deal with. On a turning track, I would bank on Akshar Patel lot more because of his height and natural variations he has got. But the Indian batters have to step up,” he added.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 is slated to get underway on February 9 in Nagpur.