With the first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy In a few days, Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne has spoken about India's current mood.
The five-Test series scheduled to begin in Perth is important for the visitors as they suffer a 3-0 defeat to New Zealand on home soil. Labuschagne addressed the possible psychological impact of the recent setback in India.
“It's really hard to judge. They played in completely different conditions, turned around, but for India to come here after a home defeat is something that has never happened (in my career),” Labuschagne told the media.
Although Labuschagne recognizes India's confidence is suffering after the loss to New Zealand, he did not underestimate the tourists. He believes the recent defeat may have dampened their morale a bit, but they are still a good team.
“I think that's a good thing in terms of… they're probably a little bit less confident given that they didn't have a Test win and lost 3-0 to New Zealand. “I think that will hurt their confidence a little bit,” added he added.
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However, the Australian batsman drew a comparison with his own country's recent history, which has seen them lose their last four series both home and away to India, highlighting the need for attention.
“They have a first-class squad and are one of the best teams in the world. So you should never underestimate a team like this. They have a first-class team and they have proven that over a long period of time. One should never underestimate the depth of Indian cricket. “Anyone who gets a chance to play for India has had to do a lot of hard work and find their way into this team… to actually play for a team like that you have to be a very good player,” Labuschagne added
The right-hander also spoke about the previous BGT in the 2020-21 season where India had to miss some of their stars due to injuries but still managed to win the historic series in Australia for the second consecutive time.
“This is what happened in 2021 – guys like (T) Natarajan played, (Mohammad) Siraj got his first break in Australia, Washington Sundar played. They had all these guys who were probably a bit new – Shubman (Gill) played those few games (in the 2020-21 series) – so there were new faces,” Labuschagne concluded.
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