New Delhi: In the school of hard knocks, a tour of Australia is perhaps the hardest of them all. It tests you in ways expected... and unexpected. It starts off with the crowd, brings in the abrasive local media and finally ends with a team that is very tough to beat at home.

Starting in 1877, Australia have played 445 Tests at home and won 259 of them. Their win-loss ratio of 2.539 in home Tests is unmatched in the game and even though India have won on their last two trips, no place challenges a cricketer like a tour Down Under.

It could, as it has done over the years, break a cricketer. But if you manage to come out of it well, it could prove to be the start of something great. A successful tour fills you with confidence that could last a career and the lessons learnt go a long way in helping keep the player grounded.

This is precisely the message that India head coach Gautam Gambhir and some of the senior players have shared with the younger members of the squad on their first tour of Australia. India won there with a motley crew during the last tour, so the team management will be confident of the squad’s ability to adapt to the different conditions. But this time, India are coming of a series loss at home and the touring party has as many as eight members who have never played a Test on Australian soil.

“Gauti bhai (Gambhir) had a chat with the boys just before we started, we had some of the senior boys as well,” India batting coach Abhishek Nayar said in video posted by bcci.tv. on Thursday.

“Booms (Bumrah), Virat , Ash (Ashwin) having a chat with the guys... how first they came here as youngsters with a lot of seniors around and how they sort of felt that once you finish an Australia series you go back a better cricketer. I think the young boys are very keen, raring to go and hopefully make a name for themselves by the end of this tour. It’s one of the toughest challenges for an Indian cricketer coming here and overcoming it,” said Nayar.

Yashaswi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna will get a taste of the challenge for the first time in the series that begins in November 22.

And who better than the troika of Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah to share their invaluable learnings from the past series.

While Kohli and Ashwin are on their fifth Test tours Down Under, Bumrah will play in his third red-ball series in Australia. There is more than enough experience there and vitally, they have tasted success too.

India bowling coach Morne Morkel described the series as “a showpiece on the international calendar” and predicted that both teams would go hard at each other in every session.

“I think it’s a showpiece on the international calendar since it’s going to be teams that not going to give anybody an inch or a sniff and it is going to be hard-fought sessions,” Morkel said.

“I’m hopeful that the five Test matches is hard (cricket). Five days of cricket when you sit after the day’s play and you take your shoes off and say, ‘Listen, I have given it all’.”

The fact that Australia have not been able to lay their hands on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2014-15, with India winning four consecutive series including the historic triumphs Down Under in 2018-19 and 2020-21, adds spice to the proceedings. India, to this day, remain the only Asian nation to beat the Australia at their backyard in a Test series.

If anything, things have got a little more intense after Australia beat India in the World Test Championship in June 2023. Blows have been traded and the Aussies, led by Pat Cummins, would like nothing more than to set the record straight this time around.

“It’s become a big part of Indian cricket to come here and do well. It’s obviously a very proud moment that India won here twice in the last two times as well as winning it in India,” assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said.

And, as coach, Gambhir would like nothing more than to keep the streak going. For that to happen, he’ll have to inspire not just the seniors but also the youngsters. It starts off with a few words but it’ll have to be followed up by some good, old hard cricket... the kind the Aussies appreciate and the kind that wins Test matches.

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