Australia head coach Justin Langer fires warning to Indian team ahead of Border-Gavaskar series

With the all-important Border-Gavaskar series set to begin from November 22, former Australian cricketer and current head coach Justin Langer cautioned against underestimating the Indian team.

The Men in Blue have won their previous 2 Test tours of Australia by identical 2-1 margins, but head into the upcoming series on the back of a 3-0 home series defeat at the hands of New Zealand earlier this month.

“One thing you never do is write off champions, and that’s in every sport, because they are a champion for a reason. In India, there are one and a half billion cricket-loving people, and then count all the rest around the world, they expect nothing but excellence, and the team will be under intense pressure, so how they fight back will be important,” Langer said.

“And they’ll be getting written off for being too old, but people say that all the time, and I just can’t wait to see them play. I just hope, if this is the last time (Kohli) is out here, people enjoy it because he is a superstar, so is Rohit Sharma, so is (Ravi) Ashwin, so is (Ravi) Jadeja, so is (Jasprit) Bumrah,” Langer added.

“It’s the same with the Australians; the bowling attack is a very senior attack now… so really enjoy it while you can; they are not going to be around forever,” Langer further added.

India has to win at least 4 out of the 5 upcoming matches against Australia in order to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) finals. Langer believes that in their bid to recover from the series whitewash handed to them by New Zealand, India can turn out to be a dangerous opponent for Australia.

“India losing to New Zealand is a bit like North Melbourne beating Brisbane in the grand final at the moment. And not for one millisecond is that disrespect for New Zealand, because they are the great overachievers; they are brilliant,” Langer said.

“I think they’d won two Test matches (in India), and to win the series 3-0, that’s an amazing achievement. They’ve just been beaten three-nil by New Zealand, so India will be humbled by that and equally determined to remedy it because the pressure on them will be intense,” Langer concluded.