Murali Vijay says that India will dominate the touring Australians

What’s the story?

Experienced Indian opener Murali Vijay is expected to play a key role in the upcoming series against Australia. In an interview with cricket.com.au, he said that the Indian Test team will be looking to whitewash the visitors.

Vijay said, "Aussies are a top side, but we have been playing a great brand of cricket for the past three years. I think we will be dominating the Aussies. Our approach would be winning the series four-nil."

In case you did not know..

The last time Australia played a Test series in India was back in 2012. In that series, the Australians were totally outplayed in all departments of the game and whitewashed 4-0. The last time The Kangaroos won a Test series in India was way back in 2004.

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They defeated the Indian team then led by Sourav Ganguly 2-1. It was in the same series their former skipper Michael Clarke made his debut in the first Test at Bangalore and scored a century.

The heart of the matter

Opener Murali Vijay, who is most likely to be paired with KL Rahul, has an important role to play in dealing with the Australian new ball bowlers. Their primary challenge will be to score against bowlers like Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

However, Vijay believes that the adjustments he has made to obtain the ‘perfect’ bat swing will benefit him. He even offered a few tips to his Australian counterparts on their stance and foot movements. He underlined the point that Indians will be trying to cast their superiority right from the beginning.

Since the last time Australia toured India, a lot of things have changed. Virat Kohli, who made his Test captaincy debut against Australia is now the captain in all the formats for the Indian team. Steven Smith who was a sporadic Test player when they toured last time will now be leading the side.

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The Australian management has already taken measures by appointing Sriram Sridharan and Monty Panesar as consultants. The batting unit will know the daunting task which lies ahead of them. They must counter the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in order to come close to any success in the tour.

What’s next?

The Indian team will look to assert their superiority as the number one side in the world. The Australians however, have had ample practice and walk into the series following a 3-0 series victory over a terrible Pakistan team. Steven Smith’s men will fight it out to avoid the recurrence of 2012 performance.

Sportskeeda’s take

The Indian team under Virat Kohli is already drawing comparisons to the Australian team under Ricky Ponting which once dominated the format. It will be interesting to see how Virat Kohli’s men showcase their skill set against a ‘well-prepared’ Australian line-up.