Perth [Australia], November 19 : Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne on Tuesday said that Team India will be a little bit lower on confidence as they are coming into the prestigious series after a whitewash against New Zealand.
The first Test of the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played at Perth's Optus Stadium from November 22 onwards.
The series is extremely crucial for both sides' ICC World Test Championship final chances. While the Aussies will be aiming to get a good start in their bid to prevent a hat-trick of series losses to India at home, the visitors would also be charged up after a humiliating whitewash series loss to New Zealand at home in the three-match Test series, their first Test series loss in home conditions in 12 years.
Speaking at the press conference, Labuschagne said that the series it will be a good thing for the Aussies since India will be travelling after a series loss against the Kiwis and will be lower on confidence.
"It's really hard to judge; they played on completely different conditions, spinning conditions. But, I mean, having India come here on the back of a loss at home, that's something that has never happened before. So, I think that's a good thing because they are probably a little bit lower on confidence, not coming off a Test victory, losing to New Zealand 0-3. That's going to do a little bit of damage to their confidence," Labuschagne said.
He added that India have a quality line-up and cannot be underestimated ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"But, at the end of the day, they are a quality line-up, they are one of the best teams in the world. You can never underestimate a team like that," he added.
With a 3-0 series whitewash against New Zealand at home, India needs to win the series by 4-0 to punch their ticket to feature in London for the WTC final for the third successive time directly.
After the series opener in Perth, the second Test, featuring the day-night format, will take place under lights at Adelaide Oval from December 6 to 10. Fans will then turn their attention to The Gabba in Brisbane for the third Test from December 14 to 18.
The traditional Boxing Day Test, scheduled from December 26 to 30 at Melbourne's iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, will mark the series' penultimate stage. The fifth and final Test will be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7, promising an exciting climax to a highly anticipated series.
India's squad for Border-Gavaskar Series: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
Australia squad for the first Test: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.