Team India's Austral Odyssey

The much-hyped Test series between India and Australia will be starting next week from the 6th of December. As many have predicted this seems to be India's best chance to win down under. To further Team India's cause, Australian aces Steve Smith and David Warner won't be part of their pack due to their respective bans following the Sandpaper gate saga in South Africa.

Everything looks good on paper, but eventually what matters is what the boys do on the ground. Indian team's seamers have been consistently performing well as seen in the South African and England series as well. It's high time the Indian batsmen step-up and perform out there in the middle.

Captain Kohli has backed most of his batsmen and it's time they showcase their skills. Frankly speaking, no other batsmen apart from the superstar Indian captain has been able to stand in the middle for India! Everyone knows that the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have it in them to make it big in the Test arena. Apart from one or two performances from each of them in the past two away series, there's nothing significant to show as such.

Out here in Australia, minor performances like those will neither help them nor their team. It shouldn't happen that only one batsman and the bowlers are performing. As for the openers, Prithvi Shaw will be the man to watch out for along with the other two openers in the squad. With players at the junior level also touring away countries it won't be as alien conditions for Shaw as it would have been for any other player in the bygone era.

There's no way one can count down the baggy greens. It's a home series for them and they will hit hard for sure. Looking to revive under senior man Tim Paine's captaincy, the Australian team has produced stable performances in the recent past. With the fierce trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc returning, it won't be easy for the Men in Blue. To partner them they have a quality off-spinner in the form of Nathan Lyon.

To put it in a nutshell, only a team effort can help India conquer the boys in yellow. It definitely will be a hard-fought series and only time will tell who triumphs over the other.