India's flamboyant middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif says the Indian team will have the advantage of being familiar with the conditions in the upcoming home series against Pakistan, beginning with the first Test on March 4.
"All our players know it will be a very challenging series and everybody is working hard for it," said Kaif, who was in Mumbai for the launch of Pepsi's new energy drink, Gatorade, on Tuesday.
"It will be a tough series against Pakistan. The Indian team has been having on and off period in the last year. I hope we can get our act together and get our form going for the Pakistan series," he added.
The Indian team struggled towards the end of 2004, but Kaif, who has played only seven Tests and 81 One-Day Internationals, had some good performances in both forms of the game. His showing in the Test series against Australia, in which he scored 153 runs, inclusive of two fighting half-centuries, has no doubt re-ignited his dormant Test career.
The Uttar Pradesh batsman also reiterated the fact that the Pakistan bowlers, who are having a tough time in Australia at the moment, will be under pressure to perform in the country.
"The Pakistan team has not performed up to expectations in Australia and they will be coming here [India] with a lot of pressure on them.
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"If you play well in Australia you get a lot of confidence, like it happened to us during our tour last year. We played well in Australia, after that we carried our good form to Pakistan and won both the Test and the One-Day International series."
About his own preparations for the series, he said he is currently playing a lot of domestic matches in order to sustain his form.
"We have still got a couple of weeks to go before the Pakistan series. I have been busy playing the domestic matches. I have played a couple of domestic one-day matches for my state, Uttar Pradesh, in the Ranji Trophy competition and a Deodhar Trophy match for Central Zone. I will be playing one more game and I will see how I go after that.
"I was quite happy with the way I played in the home series against Australia. Facing bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne, and scoring some runs against them, gave me a lot of confidence.
"I can see myself improving with every game, as I have got my confidence going. I played well in Bangladesh also and I hope to continue the good form."
According to the provisional itinerary released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Pakistan are scheduled to play a warm-up game before the Tests and one-dayers.
Kaif was hopeful that the teams the Pakistanis play against in the warm-up games -- the Board Presidents XI and the India A team -- gives them a tough fight so that they are made to feel uncomfortable from the start.
He also expressed happiness that most of the Indian team members are playing domestic cricket to prepare for the Pakistan series.
"After the Pakistan tour last year we had a three-month gap and then we played the Asia Cup, where we did not perform well and things did not go well after that.
"So we are playing matches and making sure that we continue the good form. If you play matches regularly, you have a chance to work on your game and improve on your mistakes."
