There is this general feeling that Virat Kohli and team enter the upcoming tour against Australia as favourites owing to the absence of David Warner and Steven Smith.
However, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has warned the Indian team to be wary of the hosts, especially because of the fact that they are playing in their home conditions.
"Doesn't matter if they (Australia) don't have good players like Steve Smith and David Warner. They are playing in their own backyard," Sehwag told NDTV.
'They will give a good fight to the Indian team'
"These players who are coming and playing in Test cricket have already played first-class cricket there. They've scored a number of runs. They don't have much experience if you talk about international matches but they will give a good fight to the Indian team," he further added.
Sehwag, however, said that he thinks Virat Kohli's team can beat any side across any formats in any conditions and that they have to focus on their batting and try to match the hosts in the first innings.
"I've been saying this for last one year that they can win Test series in Australia, England and South Africa. They have to play really well. If they match first innings total with Australia and England, they have a chance to beat them," the flamboyant opener said.
While Sehwag wanted to tread this path with caution, former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan did not hold back and said that India will dominate Australia down under and has hailed the bowling order as a big threat.
"Absolutely! If you look at the bowling line up, India have got enough in their arsenal to cause a threat to Australia for sure. Obviously, when you're visiting Australia, there are different challenges, which as a team you have to come together, understand and prepare for the series. You need 20 wickets for sure but the platform needs to be set by the batsmen," Zaheer said.
Sehwag has backed young opener Prithvi Shaw to open in Australia and says that if he and KL Rahul get going on those surfaces, Australia will definitely struggle.
