Not sure if this Indian team was better than the one we played against: Steve Waugh

Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh felt that the current Indian side wasn’t better than the one they played against.

This was in an response to the famous comments made by Ravi Shastri wherein he claimed that the current Indian side is the best the country’s ever had.

“Look I have played against some great Indian sides and I am not sure that the current side is better than the ones we played against,” said Waugh, in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo.

The World Cup-winning coach opined that these comments might have been made by the Indian coach because he wanted to increase the morale of his team.

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“I am not really sure but probably not a great thing to say as it puts extra pressure on the team. Once they start losing, they will get a lot of criticism for that. Look, it’s good that Ravi Shastri believes in his side but comments like these could be kept to himself,” he further added.

India is set to begin their two-month-long sojourn of Australia and while many have tipped the Virat Kohli-led side to win Down Under, Waugh felt otherwise, insisting that the home side would be tough to beat despite all the current turmoil outside the team.

“Australia will be hard to beat in Australia. We have a bowling attack as good as any team in world cricket and we can take wickets. It’s our batting if we score 350 runs in first innings, I think we will be very hard to beat. And someone will always come and do well and that’s the nature of the sport,” Waugh elaborated.

Nonetheless, he predicted the series to a closely-contested affair. “I am still pretty confident that we can win in Australia but it’s going to be a close series though.

“Actually, India have quite a rounded team and they will see this as a significant chance. They would have prepared for this tour for a long time. I think it is going to be really close series,” the 52-year old added.

The former Australian batsman heaped praise on Indian skipper Virat Kohli, comparing him with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.

“He is a great player and he loves these big moments. He is like Tendulkar and Lara. They wait for these and that’s where they want to show their best. He will be the dangerman straightaway but they have some pretty good batsmen,” said Waugh.

Image credit- Macquarie Sports Radio