Australia will try to beat the unbeatable

Australian captain Steve Smith says a win in India will be the best moment of their lives

The world no. 1 test team India is currently on a brilliant run. India has achieved this glory after being unbeaten in 19 Tests over a 16 month period with victories over some of the top seeded teams South Africa, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh at home while Sri Lanka and West Indies vanquished in away series.

India is all set to host the Aussies for a four match Test series from 23 February. In contrast, the second seeded test team, Australia, was thrashed 3-0 in Sri Lanka and then lost the first two Tests of a three-match home series against South Africa. Later the new look team then swept aside Pakistan at home.

The defeat of Australia in last few series made their fan skeptical about their performance against India but Australian skipper Smith believes Australia have learnt from those defeats and are now a much improved side.

“You probably learn more from losing games than you do from winning. So i guess the last year has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride in terms of results,” said Smith while interviewing in Mumbai. “I think this Team has come a long way,” he added.

“Obviously this is going to be a very difficult tour and I am excited by that challenge. All the guys are really excited about what’s to come in the next six weeks. It’s a great challenge to play here in India,” the skipper said.

“We know that if we can pull something off and win a series here, we will look back in 10-20 years and it will be some of the best times of our lives. It’s a great occasion to play here in India.”

Smith also talks about Kohli and said, “We are trying to form a game plan but I am not telling you. He’s a world-class player and has been batting very well. He’s a big player for India along with the others. They have a strong top six and hopefully we can stop them.”

The series is not only important for Australia but India too as they have a best chance to repay the debt that they got after losing to Aussies in last test series in Australia.

It is also interesting to note that the Australia who is the current holder of Border-Gavaskar Trophy is trailing India 5-6 with one series draw. It is a great opportunity for Australia to level their series track record against India.

Year	Played in	Result	Player of the series
1996–1997	India	India won the one-off Test 1-0	Nayan Mongia
1997–1998	India	India won the 3-match series 2-1	Sachin Tendulkar
1999–2000	Australia	Australia won the 3-match series 3-0	Sachin Tendulkar
2000–2001	India	India won the 3-match series 2-1	Harbhajan Singh / Matthew Hayden
2003–2004	Australia	4-match series drawn 1-1 (Retained By India)	Rahul Dravid
2004–2005	India	Australia won the 4-match series 2-1	Damien Martyn
2007–2008	Australia	Australia won the 4-match series 2-1	Brett Lee
2008–2009	India	India won the 4-match series 2-0	Ishant Sharma
2010–2011	India	India won the 2-match series 2-0	Sachin Tendulkar
2011–2012	Australia	Australia won the 4-match series 4–0	Michael Clarke
2012–2013	India	India won the 4-match series 4-0	Ravichandran Ashwin
2014–2015	Australia	Australia won the 4-match series 2-0	Steve Smith