Border-Gavaskar Trophy is almost two three weeks away but all anyone can talk about, is the upcoming series between India and Australia. Veteran Australia pacer Scott Boland is all set to feature for Australia A as the side gears up to square off against Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India A. The 35-year-old has now expressed his eagerness to have a go at KL Rahul. For the unversed, KL Rahul, who was recently dropped from India's playing XI for the second and third Test against New Zealand, has landed in Australia alongside Dhruv Jurel to get some extra game time.

The batter from Karnataka has been struggling to register consistent performances in the longest format. Ahead of the upcoming marquee series between India and Australia, KL Rahul's record in Australia comes as an eye-opener.

The right-handed batter just has an average of 20.77 in five Tests Down Under and this average would have been way lesser had Rahul not scored a century at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2015. Scott Boland, who was part of Australia's World Test Championship final win against India, feels that KL Rahul needs to be attacked early, if he is to be kept in check.

"I was lucky to bowl to him in a Test over in India a couple of years ago but it'll be nice to play against him in our backyard. He's a world-class player but someone I think we can get on top of pretty early and hopefully stay on top of him for the majority of the summer," ESPNCricinfo quoted Boland as saying.

Boland not reading too much into India's defeat against New Zealand

Scott Boland has also taken a note of India's recent 0-3 series loss against New Zealand at home, however, he is not reading too much into it, as the pitches will be totally different in Australia as compared to India.

"There's so much more bounce here, more seam. The way they'll structure their team will be completely different to what you see over in India," said Boland.

It is important to mention that the majority of the Indian squad would not have a full practice game in Australia after the scheduled intra-squad game against India A was cancelled.

Speaking after the loss against New Zealand in the third Test, Rohit had said, "I think sometimes when you play that practice match, we're travelling with a squad of 19 players and it was only three days that were allotted to us. And I don't know how much workload we can get done in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared."

"So we, as a management as well, we feel that rather than having that, the match simulation where the batters can spend more time in the middle, batting in the middle, and then the bowlers as well can bowl a lot of balls, so that is something that, we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem. All of us have been playing a lot of cricket. So it's just about spending time in the middle," he added.

Rohit Sharma's participation in the first Test in Perth hangs in balance, and if the Indian skipper indeed misses the match, then there is a good chance, that KL Rahul might take his spot.

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