12 months ago, Australia were licking their wounds after suffering a humiliating loss to India at home – the first time the Baggy Greens had lost a series to this team in their own backyard. Now, the same team, with the addition of Marnus Labuschagne and the return of Steve Smith and David Warner is roaring with confidence.
They not only managed to retain the Ashes during the tour of England but have now recorded victories in all five home matches for the current season. This tremendous performance has whetted their captain Tim Paine's appetite for some revenge on the Indian team.
Speaking after his team completed their 3-0 whitewash over New Zealand, Paine commented upon the tour of India later this year. "We're certainly a different side than what they played against last year.
"There's test championship points at stake and I think both India and Australia are eyeing off that final so every point is going to be critical. If we can continue our upward trend, you're potentially talking about the top two teams in the world so it's going to be an awesome series," Paine told the media.
There is good reason for the Australian captain to feel confident. The main reason for his team's loss against India was the lack of batting strength. Not a single batsman from the Australian side managed to score a hundred in that series. With both Smith and Warner now seemingly back in top gear and Labuschagne piling up centuries also, things are likely to get better.
While Paine is looking forward to playing against India, his teammate Labuschagne is interested in the challenge of scoring runs in India. Talking about the prospect of playing in this country, he said: "It will be great to play in India if I get the opportunity. It is nice to travel with this group and I am just taking it as it comes."
Indeed, that is the next big challenge for the 25-year old batsman whose rise in international cricket has been meteoric. After doing okay in the Ashes series in England, he plundered more than 800 runs this Australian summer. Now, he will have to show that he can play well on turning pitches also.
When Australia come to India, there main weapon, batting wise, would be Steve Smith who scored three centuries in a four-match series – Australia's last in India – in 2017. If Marnus too can produce this kind of prolific form, Australia may just be the team to trouble the mighty Indian side on their own turf.
