Last year, India completed a historic 2-1 triumph in Australia, their first-ever Test series victory in the country. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly believes India will face an even bigger challenge when they go back down under in 2020-21 for a four-Test series against a "full-strength" Australia side, reports Cricinfo.
Back in 2018-19, the hosts were without two key batsmen in Steven Smith and David Warner, who were serving year-long bans for their role in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. With both Smith and Warner back in action, a "different Australia", according to Ganguly, awaits India next year. Following the end of the 2019-21 World Test Championship cycle, India are also set to tour England (2021) and South Africa (2021-22). Ganguly wants India to win Test series on those tours as well.
"They beat Australia in 2018. But I will still expect to win in South Africa and England," Ganguly told India Today. "And I think, they are going back to Australia next year. That's going to be a bigger challenge and I am sure with the standards that Virat [Kohli] sets for himself and the others, he will know at the back of his mind that the 2018 Australia team was not the best Australian team of this generation. And what he is going to face next year, which is not very far away, is going to be a different Australia."
The enormity of the challenge notwithstanding, Ganguly was confident Indian have the ability to beat Australia in their backyard once more.
"The full-strength Australia are a strong Australia," Ganguly said. "They (India) have the team to beat them. They will just have to believe and get everything right to beat them. That's what I am looking for.
"When I became a captain, one of our aims was to compete with the best. And I remember, 2003 in Australia against that Australia, we were outstanding. And this team has the potential to do it. They have proper fast bowlers, they have spinners, they have a champion in Virat Kohli as a batsman."
