Mumbai: Former Australian captain Steve Waugh said on Thursday that he expected the Indian cricket team, now in a slump, to be all fired up and ready to take on the world champions in the October-November Test series, which he predicted would be “a very tough” one.

Steve, who is brand ambassador for Qantas and was here in connection with the re-launch of its flights to India, also blamed the slide in India’s fortunes on the break the team had after returning from Pakistan in April.

“They (India) have not played enough cricket after the break. They will be all fired up for the series against Australia. It’s just a question of elevating themselves, which they do against tough competition. Australians rate India very highly,” Steve said, adding that it would be “a tough series”.

Steve, who is concentrating on writing a book after his retirement at the beginning of this year, also spoke out against the excessive use of technology in the game with reference to the experiment to be conducted during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.

“Cricket will lose something (with the use of more and more technology). You don’t want it to be too Americanised with more and more time-outs. You don’t want so many stoppages which would affect the flow and momentum. I agree with (Ricky) Ponting and (Tatendu) Taibu,” he said.

Steve’s successor, Ponting, and young Zimbabwe skipper Taibu are the only captains who have spoken out against the use of technology by which the field umpires would be wired to the stumps to hear faint snicks and the third umpire would call no-balls by watching TV replays during the Champions Trophy.

Asked what the secret was behind Australia’s string of successes in finals — 12 in-a-row including the last two World Cups — Steve attributed it to hard work and ability to handle pressure.

“Everyone (in the team) knows how to handle pressure. They look forward to the finals. They work hard and handle pressure well. After a few finals you know how to handle it. It boils down to confidence and hard work,” he explained.

Steve also remembered the Test match the Australian team had won under his captaincy in Mumbai before going on to lose the series 1-2 in 2001 and departing without conquering what he had often described as ‘The Final Frontier’.

“That series in 2001 was perhaps the best ever I have played in. The Mumbai Test was nerve-wracking for me as captain when Sachin Tendulkar came in to bat as the noise level at the Wankhede Stadium was deafening.