For Australia, the Bangalore Test, commencing on Thursday, must seem like a home match. After all, the visitors have never lost at the venue.
They played three Tests there, and won the last two, while the first one played way back in 1979 ended in a draw.
Overall, India hasn't enjoyed a good record at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. They played 17 matches, won four and lost six of them, while the remaining seven ended in draws.
The hosts realize how important it is to get off to a winning start, especially against a champion side like Australia. If you go down early in the series, it will be next to impossible to bounce back against the World champions.
And, not surprisingly, did India's preparations start nearly three weeks back, with all the focus on this four-Test series. They started off with the Irani Trophy match, between Rest of India and Ranji Trophy champions Delhi, where all the Test probables took part. That was followed by a week-long camp in Bangalore.
"The preparation has been very good. We are really satisfied with the way we have gone about in the last three weeks we have been together. We came together just before the Irani Trophy match and we have been training hard to prepare ourselves for this important series. As far as preparation is concerned, I think we have done everything that we could. The pitch seems to be a good surface, so, hopefully, we can play good cricket and get the right result.
"It is my home match so it would be good to start with a win," India captain Anil Kumble said on Thursday.
The veteran leggie added more drama to Sourav Ganguly's retirement script, saying this would also be his last Test match in front of home fans.
"It certainly would be my last Test match in Bangalore, because I don't know when the next match is. I don't want to look that far ahead. As I have always said, I take one series at a time; so this would be my last Bangalore Test match," he said.
However, India's captain did make it clear he would not do a Ganguly -- announcing his retirement couple of days ahead of such a high-profile Test series. He also made it clear to the media not to keep speculating on the retirement plans of the senior players and instead focus on the cricket match.
"Boss, I will let you know when my last series is. I am someone who will take a call on that. I am not someone who would like to announce before; I would like to take things as they come. I don't know which newspaper you are taking about. There are billions of newspapers in India, so it is very difficult to pinpoint where it has come. I don't like to say yes or no; I will announce when the time is there. Let's stop talking about this for now. Let the players decide when they need to go," he said.
Kumble added that Ganguly's farewell would not be a distraction, since the Indian team's only focus is on winning the Test series.
"I don't think it is a distraction. It is his personal choice. He has had a fantastic career and I hope that this series would be good for him, not just for him, but Team India as well. That would be the focus, because for us the team comes first and then individuals. Our focus would be to go out there and do the job for the team."
The 37-year-old stressed that the controversies that marred India's tour of Australia earlier this year would not be repeated.
"That is all past. We can't really sit and dwell on the past. I think this series will be played in the right way and we will certainly play the cricket that is expected of us. We will go out there and ensure that we play really good hard cricket to get the right result for us."
"That is past and I am sure we have all learnt what happened in that Test match, not only India and Australia but the whole cricketing world as well. Everybody saw what happened and we learn from experiences we come across. Both teams have played good cricket in the past and we will certainly hope to play excellent cricket in the series. I am hopeful that the cricket will be remembered," he added.
India coach Gary Kirsten also pointed out that this team is desperate to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from Australia, after losing the last two series between the two teams.
"We have put a huge amount of time in preparation for the series. It is a high-profile series and we felt we needed to get together early after the Champions Trophy was postponed. That gave us the opportunity to spend three weeks together and really put in massive efforts physically as much as working our skills. We have got a group of cricketers who are in good shape and they are really looking forward to batting against Australia and are fresh and motivated," Kirsten said.
