With the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy just a few days away, Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne has opened up on India's current state of mind.
The five-Test series, set to commence in Perth, is important for the visitors as they are coming off a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand on home soil. Labuschagne addressed the potential psychological impact of India's recent setback.
“It’s really hard to judge. They played in completely different conditions, spinning conditions but having India come here off the back of a loss at home is something that’s never happened before (in my career)," Labuschagne told the media.
While recognizing India being under confident after loss to New Zealand, Labuschagne has not underestimated the tourists. He believes the recent loss might have slightly lowered their morale, but they still are a quality side.
“I think that is a good thing in terms of… they are probably a little bit lower on confidence, not coming off a Test victory, losing to New Zealand 3-0. I think that’s going to do a little bit of damage to their confidence," he added.
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However, the Australian batter drew a comparison to his own country's recent history, where they have lost their last four series to India both home and away, emphasizing the need for attention.
“They’re a quality line-up and they’re one of the best teams in the world. So you can never underestimate a team like that. They’re a quality line-up and they’ve showed that over a period of time. You can’t ever underestimate the depth of Indian cricket. Anyone that’s gets the opportunity to play for India have had to do a lot of hard work and find their way into that side… to actually play for a team like that, you have to be a very good player," Labuschagne added
The right-hander also spoke about the previous BGT in 2020-21, where India was without some of their stars due to injuries, but still managed to win the historic series second time in a row in Australia.
“That’s what happened in 2021 — the likes of (T) Natarajan played, (Mohammad) Siraj got his first crack in Australia, Washington Sundar played. They had all these guys that were probably a little bit new — Shubman (Gill) played those couple of games (in the 2020-21 series) – so there were new faces around," Labuschagne concluded.
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