Calcutta: With the Ashes just over a month away, the first Test beginning at Brisbane from November 25, it is certainly a disadvantage that Australia will start the series a spot below rivals England, who are at No. 4 in the latest rankings.

The Australian media reflected the concern after India inflicted a seven-wicket loss, in the second Test, in Bangalore, on Wednesday.

“India completed a two-nil clean sweep of the series, a result that doesn’t reflect the closeness of the Mohali match but one that drops Australia to a dismal fifth on the ICC Test rankings with England moving to fourth,” reported The Australian.

However, the drop in rankings is not the only side-effect of the confidence-crushing series defeat. India’s clean sweep also meant that it was Australia’s worst Test losing streak for 22 years!

“Not since the first three matches of the 1988-89 home series against the West Indies has Australia lost three Tests in a row, but they have now managed to do so again by failing to crack the Indian batting on a wearing pitch,” wrote the Herald Sun.

And there’s the Shane Warne-Ponting spat too. “Infighting between a couple of Australia’s all-time greats will be fodder for English tabloids ahead of the Ashes series, which kicks off at the Gabba on November 25,” reported The Daily Telegraph.

Enough fuel to fire the Ashes.