Openers and Cheteshwar Pujara’s form key to Indian cricket team's success against Australia: Michael Atherton

Former England captain Michael Atherton believes that the Indian cricket team are the best placed side to give arch-rivals Australia a run for their money, when the two sides face off for a Test series later this year.

The Indian cricket team are scheduled to tour Australia later this year for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if the necessary permissions are in order post the coronavirus pandemic.

Indian cricket team won their last Test series Down Under

The return of David Warner and Steve Smith will make Australia a much stronger outfit compared to the one the Indian cricket team faced back in 2018-19, when they won their first-ever Test series down under.

The Indian cricket team's batting line-up feature Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma at the top, followed by a rock-solid Cheteshwar Pujara and then captain Virat Kohli. Thus, Michael Atherton sees no reason why the batsmen cannot flourish.

“(Mayank) Agarwal... what does he average? 55 or something after a dozen Test matches? Rohit Sharma averages 46 after 30-odd Tests. Then you’ve got back-up openers like Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul. Seems to me India are quite well-placed,” Michael Atherton said on the Sony Ten Pit Stop show.

“Pujara is a fabulous player. The Indian cricket team are about to go to Australia. That top of the order is so important in Australia, because if you can have a solid, successful start there, as soon as that Kookaburra ball loses its shine, you can have some lovely batting conditions there.

“That opening position, the No. 3 position offering a solid base is really important. I would have thought that Sharma and Agarwal would open, followed by Pujara at 3 and then Kohli and beyond and that’s the way India will go,” Michael Atherton, who featured in 115 Tests for England, said.

The other factor which Michael Atherton thinks gives hope to the Indian cricket team’s chances in Australia is the former's bowling attack. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar collectively are match-winners with the ball on any given day.

It’s almost impossible to win in Australia without a good bowling attack, reckons Michael Atherton, who is highly impressed with the depth in the Indian cricket team’s fast bowling.

“What really should give India hope is the strength of the bowling attack. It’s very difficult to win in Australia without strong seam attack. One of the great things in the last few years about Indian cricket is seeing this sea change in terms of the quality of fast bowlers they’ve produced. When I played in India in ‘93, it was completely spin-based. They obviously had good fast bowlers back then but I don’t think it was of the same depth they have now,” the 52-year-old former England opener said.