India's road to history is far from straightforward

India would be locking horns with Australia in a four-match Test series with the first Test starting on December 6th at the Adelaide Oval. On paper and going by recent form, Indians seem to have the upper edge over the hosts but the Kangaroos playing at home balances out the equation.

The Indians go into the Test series high on confidence after registering a comprehensive two-nil bilateral series over the Windies. On the other hand, the Australians have been on a downhill spiral in Tests, a format which they dominated for almost two decades. The Australians come into the series losing their last two series against Pakistan in the UAE and South Africa. While many critics have hailed this tour as India’s best chance of winning a Test series in Australia, the hosts won’t be mere pushovers in their own backyard.

While India have been one of the top teams in red ball cricket been courtesy their brilliant run in Test cricket at home, their poor overseas record is something to ponder about. Although the Indians have been unbeatable at home winning a record, they have lost Test series to Australia, England and South Africa on their recent tours. So the Australians would be well aware of India’s poor track record and would look to expose the chinks in the armour.

The Australians are certainly not the all-conquering side they were a decade ago but still are very much a competitive unit. The Baggy Greens' batting has certainly taken a blow in the absence of batting stalwarts David Warner and Steve Smith, but they still have a decent batting unit to put up some challenging totals.

With limited over specialist Aaron Finch likely to open the innings, Marcus Harris could be his new opening partner. Harris comes into the Test side on the back of his stellar run-scoring form in Shield cricket and getting the nod over Matthew Renshaw. The Aussies middle order looks pretty compact with Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and Mitchell Marsh, who all have proved their mettle in red ball cricket. Khawaja was among the runs in the recent Test series against Pakistan and would look to extend his good form against India. Meanwhile Travis Head or Peter Handscomb would fill in that one vacant middle order spot.

The Aussies have a utility all-rounder in Mitchell Marsh who lends balance to the side. Wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine shall once again don the captain's hat and look to chip in with runs and be clinical with his glove work behind the stumps.

The Australian seam attack is perhaps one of the most lethal in Test cricket and would be a potent force on the seam-friendly conditions back home. The pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Jos Hazelwood, Peter Siddle and Pat Cummins could be a handful against the Indian stroke makers who have been vulnerable against the moving new ball.

While Starc is perhaps the best-left arm seamer with his prodigious inswing, Hazelwood and Siddle are masters at hitting the deck and getting seam movement and bounce. Speedster Pat Cummins has raw pace to run through the defences of the best batsmen. Seam all-rounder Mitchell Marsh would resume his duties as his side’s fourth seamer. The Australians have firepower in their spin armoury with the seasoned off-spinner Nathan Lyon who has tasted success against India and will have a trick or two up his sleeves.

So all in all, the Australians can throw a big challenge to their much more fancied opponents India who are looking forward to winning their maiden Test series in Australia. Meanwhile, India certainly has the squad to pull off an upset series win over the Australians.

Seasoned opener Murali Vijay is set to open the innings with the talented yet erratic KL Rahul unless they spring a surprise by going in with Prithvi Shaw. The batting unit would play around their prolific run scorer and skipper Virat Kohli who is arguably the best batsman in world cricket.

Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane form a meaty and experienced middle order. Hard-hitting batsman Rishabh Pant would love to showcase his exploits with the bat and gloves on his first Australian Test tour. Indians do bat deep with all-rounders like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who are all more than capable with the willow.

The Indian seam attack is loaded with a galaxy of potent seamers and has the arsenal to pick up wickets with both the new and old ball. The well-rounded pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav can be a real threat to any batting unit and would relish bowling on seaming and bouncy tracks. Meanwhile, Australia’s biggest challenge would be to tackle the deadly spin of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, all of whom have been in rich wicket-taking form.

Australia Likely Playing XI - Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khwaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Jos Hazelwood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon

Bench - Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Travis Head

India Likely Playing XI - Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma

Bench - Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Hanuma Vihari, and Prithvi Shaw

India’s record in Australia isn’t one to boast about. The Indians are yet to win a Test series on eleven tours to Australia. They have just managed to win 5 out of the 44 Tests against the Aussies on their home soil. Last time the Indians played Australia in a Test series in their backyard, they were handed a two-nil series defeat. However, India came close to winning a series on two occasions in 2007/08 and 2003/04 series but could not cross the line. The Aussies have always had a measure of Indians on the seam-friendly tracks which suit their style of cricket.

So one can fairly conclude that the Test series against Australia could well be one of Virat Kohli’s hardest assignments as skipper and will serve him with a great opportunity to prove himself as a true leader in the toughest format of the game.