From South Africa to England, now the procession and hopes move to Australia

If you wind back a year, India were completely dominating Test cricket with ruthless performances at home. The No. 1 Test team was in red-hot form but the real test still awaited them as they had to play in South Africa, England, and Australia. Despite all the troubles they have had in the past, the kind of team they had this time around, it was supposed to be India's best chance for a series win in those three countries.

2018 has almost passed and till now Indian fans have faced only disappointment. It has been a year of uncapitalized opportunity. India have lost the series against Proteas 2-1 and were beaten by the Englishmen 4-1 after being in positions to dominate both series.

The scoreline doesn't reflect the whole story of how competitive the series was but still, it will go down as a series lost. When India plays down under, it's their last chance to make 2018, a year worth remembering.

India had almost the same team in South Africa as well as England, then why is everyone proclaiming that India are favorites? The difference between the earlier series and this one is that of quality of the opposing side.

South Africa and England were with their star players but Aussies will certainly miss the services of Steve Smith and David Warner, which makes Indian chances even brighter. The Kangaroos have been on a losing streak ever since the infamous "Sandpaper gate" incident and are low on confidence. But India will surely not make a mistake of taking them lightly.

Despite the fragilities in their batting line-up, Australia's bowling looks pretty strong with the best off-spinner going around in Nathan Lyon and the fast bowling unit boasting of Starc, Hazlewood, and Cummins. They will certainly test India's batting.

Problems:-

1) Wrapping the tail :- On their day, Indian bowlers can rip apart any batting attack. But getting rid of the tail seems like a humongous task for the Indian bowlers. The inability to clean up the tail cost them the Test matches in SA and England. They will certainly not want that to happen again and hence they need to ensure that they don't get carried away and finish their job.

2) One man army :- Amid all the focus and attention on Kohli, the memory of struggles of the Indian batsman struggling have faded. Leave aside Kohli and Indian batting was in tatters in England and SA (barring two or three innings). The Indian team will not want the series to be Kohli vs Australia as it happened in South Africa and England. The batsmen need to step up and contribute if the Indian team has to have any chance of beating the Aussies.

Even though India looks stronger on paper but the lack of expectation from the Aussies can bring out the best out of the relatively inexperienced Australian batting line-up to back up a already strong bowling. So, probably it's even-stevens; slightly in India's favour one can say.

Can India win their first Test series on Australian soil or will it be a hat-trick of hopes being shattered? only time will tell.