Sachin Tendulkar feels India have a ‘very good chance’ to win their maiden Test series in Australia on their upcoming tour later this year.
Tendulkar is well aware of how difficult Australian conditions can be for Indian teams. He played 20 of his 200 Tests in Australia, and scored 1809 runs at an average of 53.20, a touch below his exceptional career average of 53.78. But despite his impressive numbers, India managed to win just two of those Tests – Adelaide in 2003 and Perth in 2008.
But Tendulkar pointed out that the current Australian side is ‘considerably inexperienced’, and that allows a very strong-looking Virat Kohli-led side a solid chance to come out on top.
Another reason for Tendulkar’s optimism is the unbelievable form of Kohli, who is averaging over 73 in the last couple of years. Moreover, the last time he toured Australia, he raked up a whopping 692 runs at an average of 86.50. His more recent form has been exceptional too – on the England tour he was the highest run-getter from either side scoring 593 runs from 10 innings, and followed that with 139 and 45 against the West Indies at home.
“I think it is his hunger … his temperament, the ability to assess the situation. Because there is no set formula to that,” said Tendulkar. “Every day you are going to have some different challenges and you have got to have that adaptability and flexibility in your mind to go out and assess and he does that rather well.
“And one good thing is he is hungry forever, that’s how a batsman should be.”
