Captain Virat Kohli is already looking forward to India‘s Test tour of Australia next year.
The arch rivals will contest four Tests in 2021. The Australians will be eager to avenge 2018-19's two-one Test series defeat to India in Sydney and surrounds.
This month's three-ODI series is a small precursor to next year's rivalry, which Dafabet have priced India at 1.69 to win.
“Having won the Test series last year, that gives us a lot more confidence going back. This time around the series is going to be different, in terms of their batting challenging our bowlers. To be fair, last time around, the players were not that experienced,” said Kohli.
Kohli on Labuschagne
Kohli is anticipating a particularly interesting challenge against South Africa-born Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne. He enjoyed a prolific 2019 – and is averaging over 63 after 14 Tests. Labuschagne has also broken into the ODI squad for the ongoing series against India.
“Labuschagne has come in and the way he's shaped up, it's amazing – so much consistency it always good to watch at the international level – and the hunger and passion, you can see in his game,” added Kohli.
“It'll be a challenge for us to break through that batting order but it's a challenge we should look forward to. We should not look forward to easy games and going to Australia, you should not expect anything easy.
“We want to keep challenging ourselves as a team and we're the top two sides in the table as well, in the world championship. I'm sure it's going to be amazing for people to watch because the series will be right up there with any of the best series we've seen in the past five-six years. We're pretty excited for it.”
While the grounds for next year's four Tests have not yet been named. The Adelaide Oval might host the series opener, while a day-night Test might follow in Brisbane or Perth.
“It has become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we're open to playing day-night Tests. We're ready and up for the challenge whether it's the Gabba, Perth, it doesn't matter to us. We have the skillset as a team now to compete against anyone in the world, anywhere, in any format of the game. Whether it's white ball, red ball or pink ball, we're ready to play anything,” concluded Kohli.