Australia vs India: Shane Watson predicts the winner of the Test series

The four-match Test series between India and Australia is all set to get underway on Thursday, December 6 at the renowned Adelaide Oval. India are yet to win a Test series in Australia and would be keen to turn their fortunes around this time under the leadership of the enigmatic Virat Kohli. Perth, Melbourne and Sydney are the venues for the other three encounters.

The Aussies, on the contrary, haven’t had the best of runs in the format in the ongoing year. They are currently International Cricket Council’s (ICC) fifth ranked team and toppling the world number one’s won’t be a walk in the park for them by any stretch of the imagination. In the meantime, former Australian cricketer Shane Watson has predicted the winner of the series.

“There is a massive home ground advantage for Australia. They haven’t lost too many times in the history in Australia. So while there is no doubt this is India’s best chance to win in Australia, it’s still incredibly challenging to be able to win away,” Watson was quoted as saying in India Today.

Virat is going to play a big part

The hosts won’t have the services of Steve Smith and David Warner due to the ball-tampering scandal earlier this year, but Watson reckons that there’s no dearth of quality in the Australian batting lineup. He mentioned the series to be a battle between the Indian batsmen and Australian bowling. Moreover, the retired all-rounder believes Kohli will play a major part in deciding the outcome of the series.

“There is no doubt it’s a big hole to fill with Smith and Warner missing but there is no doubt that we still have the quality to be able to fill those runs that we need to win. Our bowling attack is still very strong but so is India’s batting line up.

Virat is going to play a big part and they have a lot of other incredible batsmen. So their batting stocks are pretty strong. So I think it’s going to be a awesome Test series to be able to watch,” the Queenslander added.

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