Ravi Shastri's 'best Indian team' comment not a great thing to say, puts pressure on Virat Kohli's men: Steve Waugh

Waugh, who has been part of some memorable India-Australia battles during his heyday, insisted he has played against some "great Indian sides" and that he is not sure if Kohli's side is better than them.

Legendary Australian captain Steve Waugh has said he doesn't quite agree with Ravi Shastri's comments that argued Virat Kohli's current team is the best Indian travelling side in the last 15 to 20 years.

Waugh, who has been part of some memorable India-Australia battles during his heyday, insisted he has played against some "great Indian sides" and that he is not sure if Kohli's side is better than them.

The 53-year-old former cricketer also pointed out Shastri could have avoided the said comments as he believes it is putting additional pressure on the Indian team during tough overseas tours.

"Look I have played against some great Indian sides and I am not sure that the current side is better than the ones we played against," Waugh told ESPNCricinfo.

He added: "I am not really sure but probably not a great thing to say as it puts extra pressure on the team. Once they start losing, they will get a lot of criticism for that. Look, it's good that Ravi Shastri believes in his side but comments like these could be kept to himself."

Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri — Ravi Shastri (L) was appointed as India's head coach in July 2017.Reuters

Shastri had helped raise quite a few eyebrows when he claimed Kohli's men were the best travellers in the 15-20 years in a bid to defend the tourists during their five-match Test series in England earlier this year. The head coach faced a lot of flak as India went on to lose 4-1 after some horrid batting performances in the Old Blighty.

'Australia will be hard to beat in Australia'

Meanwhile, Waugh has contradicted popular opinion and has backed the Australian team, sans the disgraced duo of David Warner and Steve Smith, to beat visitors India in the upcoming four-Test series, starting December 6.

India are bidding to win their first-ever Test series in Australia in the upcoming tour and the Asian giants have the firepower to do so. While captain Kohli and the pacers are in phenomenal form, the visitors will be well served if the rest of the batting unit steps up and delivers.

However, Waugh warns the Indian team of Australia's world-class pace attack, which will be led by left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc.

"Australia will be hard to beat in Australia. We have a bowling attack as good as any team in world cricket and we can take wickets. It's our batting if we score 350 runs in first innings, I think we will be very hard to beat. And someone will always come and do well and that's the nature of the sport.

"I am still pretty confident that we can win in Australia but it's going to be a close series though."