NEW DELHI: Reeling under the unprecedented 3-0 Test series defeat at home against New Zealand, the Indian team now has their toughest challenge of the year coming up as they take on Australia in the blockbuster Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting November 22.
After the Kiwis blanked India, the wounded Indian side hasn’t had much of time to recover from the setback. Last week, the players arrived in Australia and since then have been rigorously training and prepping for the clash against giants Australia.
The Indian team might have the Kiwi shocker in the back of their minds but Marnus Labuschagne knows that their opposition — one of the best teams in the world — knows how to bounce back.
Labuschagne acknowledged the fact that the New Zealand loss would have hurt India’s confidence, but the Australian team is not underestimating the bruised side.
“Having India come here at the back of a loss at home is something that has never happened before, so I think that’s a good thing in terms that they are probably a bit low on confidence, not coming off a Test victory, losing to New Zealand in India. I think that’s gonna do a little bit of damage to their confidence but at the end of the day, they are a quality line-up and one of the best teams in the world. So you can never underestimate a team like that,” Labuschagne told reporters on Tuesday.
Before the Australia series, Rohit Sharma & Co were expected to win the series against New Zealand, but the home whitewash surprised the cricketing world and also put India’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final in jeopardy.
Aiming for a hat-trick of series wins in Australia, India now have to win four out of the five BGT Tests to make it to the WTC final without depending on the results of the other teams.
