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Chennai: Australia’s opening batsman David Warner believes his side has the resources to beat India in the four-Test series, the first of which starts in Chennai on Friday.
Warner, who still remains doubtful for the first Test, said India will be under tremendous pressure because of the recent reverses and a series win is possible. However, he conceded that the outcome would largely depend on how his side performs against the spinners.
“Definitely, we have the resources to beat India. (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni is under pressure after the recent results. We have the upper-hand in pace bowling and our batsmen are among runs,” Warner said.
“It will be a massive thing if we beat India, leading to the Ashes series (after the India tour). But, basically, it would be decided on how we the handle the challenge of facing the Indian spinners,” he said.
Like his teammates Shane Watson and Ed Cowan had said, Warner felt the Australians should show the intent to be aggressive against Indian spin.
Meanwhile, another Australian batsman, Usman Khawaja feels that the expectations to deliver the goods on rank turners could put the Indian spinners under pressure.
“The Indian spinners have a lot of pressure on them, too, because if it is a turning wicket, they will be expected to take wickets. So there will be a bit of pressure on them. We’re in India where the ball turns, you get reverse swing — the guys are really looking forward to the challenge,” Khawaja said.
Asked whether the Australian spinners can perform well enough in the practice games, Khawaja replied: “In terms of practice, this is obviously what the spinners wanted. It obviously didn’t go as well for them as it did for the Indian spinners, but the Indian batsmen also batted really well.
“I think as far as our bowling group is concerned, the spinners took more out of it, in terms of learning how the Indians will approach it come the first Test.
“The options are there for us in the spinning category, but it’s a long tour. So to judge these guys in a one-off game wouldn’t be fair,” he added.
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