Can India beat Australia in their backyard?

One of India's most awaited tours of the year is to begin in a little over ten days. The tour to Australia was one of three overseas tours that coach Ravi Shastri told us at the start of the year was going to define the character of this team. The other two were the tours to South Africa and England. Unfortunately, India failed to win either of the two series.

Now, the pressure is on India to deliver in Australia. They have to salvage what's left of their season. Whether team India have learned from their failed excursions in South Africa and England is what's going to be interesting to observe.

In terms of preparation, at least, this time coach Shastri has rightly requested for a couple of tour games to get the team acclimatized to the conditions prior to the first Test. They also have three T20 games prior to the Tests which should give them some exposure to the pitch conditions in Australia. Albeit, playing T20 cricket, as opposed to playing four-day games, should hardly count as preparation for Test matches.

Another positive for India is that Steve Smith and David Warner will be missing from Australia's Test line-up as a consequence of the ban imposed on them by Cricket Australia in the wake of the ball tampering incident in South Africa earlier this year.

Clearly, this eventuality presents India with their best opportunity to win a Test series in Australia- something that has eluded them in the past. Of course, Australia will still be a formidable opponent in their backyard.

Their pace attack will be at full strength and they will present a significant challenge to the Indian batsmen. Further, Australia will be mindful of Smith and Warner's absence and will compensate that loss by preparing much livelier pitches to enable their bowlers to bowl India out cheaply.

India's best bet is to field a line-up made up of six pure batsmen, a spin all-rounder, three front-line pacers, and a specialist wrist spinner.

Murali Vijay!

Murali Vijay should be recalled to open the innings after being dropped following his dismal performance in the first Test against England. His successful stint with an English county side following his dropping from the Test side will be the basis for his recall. Young Prithvi Shaw, his partner, at the top of the innings will face his first stiff test in overseas conditions.

Ravindra Jadeja should be the other notable inclusion as an all-rounder in place of Hardik Pandya, who is still recovering from a back injury he sustained during the Asia Cup. Jadeja performed well in the final Test against England and the ensuing series against the West Indies to deserve a callback.

This is really India's best opportunity to make history. Whether this team delivers or folds remains to be seen. As usual, all of us are optimistic and cheering for this team to achieve what no Indian team has in the past- a Test series win in Australia!