India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday stated that despite the absence of big guns like Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia will still be a side to watch out for in the long tour which begins with the T20I series starting on Wednesday.
There’s no denying the quality they have in their side,” the Indian captain said, as quoted by AFP.
“They still have world-class cricketers, though missing out on two of the world’s best batsmen is not ideal for any team. But the guys they have, especially in the limited-overs game, can do damage at any point in time. You can never underestimate any side. We’re won’t be taking anything for granted,” he added.
Stressing that his team would be focusing on the “little things” to emerge as the better side of the two, Kohli reckons he has a strong side at his disposal who would all strive for excellence.
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“We definitely have a very strong side,” he said, before adding, “When we step on the field we have 11 individuals striving for excellence, they want to be the best they can..Those are the dynamics that have allowed us to play the cricket that we are and hopefully we can build on that.”
Meanwhile, Australian skipper Aaron Finch reckoned that his team can see a change of fortunes as they plan to take the challenge to India.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to come out and express ourselves, play some great attacking cricket, take the game on and really try and take it to India,” Finch said.
He nonetheless conceded that India is a strong side but said that they are close to achieving their desired result.
“India are in great form but we feel as though we’ve been building really nicely without getting results going our way so far,” he added.
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Ben McDermott, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
India squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav.