Bangalore: India coach Gary Kirsten on Friday said the Test series against Australia would be an intense “mental battle”, and the team that handles pressure better would win.

“A lot of the time (in the series), it’s going to boil down to what happens in a pressure situation”, Kirsten said on the coming four-Test series against Ricky Pointing’s side.

“Who is the calmest in that (pressure) situation ... who’s backing himself and believing in himself ... I think that’s what it’s going to boil down to”, Kirsten remarked.

Kirsten said with the two teams almost evenly matched, the series promises to be nothing short of a cliff-hanger. “We know that the Australians are always well prepared and they must have done a lot of homework,” he said.

But the coach insisted that India are equally prepared to meet the Aussie challenge. “If one takes into account the statistics over the last 20 Test matches between India and Australia, one can see that India has got the best record among all the Test-playing nations against Australia,” he said.

He added that the Indian team has got a “good idea” of what it wants to do against the Australians.

Kirsten said India are focusing on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the visiting side and indicated that Anil Kumble’s team has its game plan ready. “Obviously, we have identified the areas that we need to improve playing against this Australian side...what are the areas we can exploit ... what are their strengths ... what are our strengths,” he said. (PTI)