‘India hurt, want to prove a point’

How do you think India will fare in AustraliaThey are under pressure after the 03 loss to New Zealand at home Thatrsquos hurt them a lot They want to prove a point in Australia and win there Thatrsquos the mindset you need to have You canrsquot go to Australia and have a mentality of drawing the seriesBut how tough would Australia beTheyrsquore going to look to dominate you Itrsquos going to be hard to beat Australia But yoursquove done that twice in the past So therersquos no reason you canrsquot do it again But for that the top guys have to fire Jasprit Bumrah has to take wickets I back India to win but we must remember that Australia will also be preparedYuvraj SinghAlso ReadMohinder scoffs at India teams being part of concurrent seriesMost team members may find playing five Test matches demanding How do you view thisThey have played three Test matches at home Itrsquos not that they will play after T20 or ODI cricket and the body is not used to fiveday cricket After three Test matches when you go and play matches your body is ready to play fiveday matches This generation is fitter They know how to recover betterThere could be tiring phases in the second half of the tourThe last two Test matches will be more mentally taxing because after three Test matches the body will start wearing down and fatigue will kick in Perth is a hot place so is Adelaide It will be the same all over Australia Whoever is mentally more into the battle will win the Test seriesDid you speak with Shubman Gill before he left for the tourI spoke with him before the New Zealand Test series and told him itrsquos important to prepare just as he had the last time he played in Australia It was COVID time and I had worked with him for 19 days He is more experienced now and his work ethic is excellent He will prepare well for this series because hersquos hungry to get his first overseas ton outside the subcontinent Do you have to be good against the short ball to succeed more in AustraliaIn day cricket you have to spend time session by session If you spend time at the wicket in Australia you get value for it because the pitches and the bounce are true Last time Rishabh Pant and Shubman played attacking cricket Cheteshwar Pujara stood at the wicket and put his body on the line Pujara is not known for strokeplay but he is gutsy Batters good against the short ball have a good chance to score runs It would help if you had a mix of everythingDoes India have the batting strength to pressure the Australian bowlersWe have the batting strength Pant and Shubman performed well last time If we have to win in Australia itrsquos vital that whenever Rohit Sharma comes in after the first Test and Virat Kohli our leading player both strengthen the middle order They have to score runs Pant is very crucial at No 5 He has to stick to his game and attack His shots may not look nice sometimes but he should continue to attackHow do you rate Yashasvi JaiswalHe is an exceptional talent It will be a big test for him If he is able to counter the bounce he will score big The same goes for Sarfaraz Khan Australia will attack you with the short ballCould you have played more than two Tests and 11 ODIs against Australia in AustraliaWe had a firm middleorder It was always between me VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly Thatrsquos the reason Virender Sehwag had to open It took a lot of work to get into the playing XI It would help if you were given a longer run for anyone to do well in Test cricket If you believe somebody has potential in Test cricket give him at least 10 Test matches and tell him lsquoYou have 20 inningsrsquo He can play without needless pressure