Australia will be underdogs when they face India at home, says Simon Katich

The Indian cricket team players are currently busy with the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. And the players are using this as an opportunity to polish themselves up for their upcoming foreign challenges in this calendar year. After a successful tour of South Africa, the Men in Blue will tour England and then Australia later in the year. However, with the recent sandpaper gate controversy, Australia’s reputation has received a major blow and they will do everything possible to mend it to regain its former glory.

Without Steve Smith, who averages 84 against India, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the Australia batting would be wobbly and former Aussie batsman Katich said that would make it difficult for them to beat India. While the India – Australia series is being billed to be a high octane clash, Katich thinks the Australian cricket team will be the underdogs when they host the Virat Kohli led side between November and January in a four-Test series.

Katich is currently in India as part of his stint as the assistant coach of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. Speaking to the Indian media from the sidelines of IPL, the 42-year-old said, “India deserve to be favourites given the cricket they have played, the quality in their Test team at the moment and the way Virat Kohli is leading them.”

KKR working hard to improve their fielding from the last couple of seasons

He revealed that KKR had one of the worst fielding sides in the competition last season. However, this season, the team unit has put in a lot of dedication and the Aussie believes the team will have a lot more pace and energy on the field than last year. In the fielding drills too, the number of times the players are hitting the stumps compared to the previous couple of years has significantly improved.

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