"India are going to be the favourites" says Shane Warne
What's the story?
Australian legend Shane Warne has branded India as the firm favourites for the Test series, which begins next month. Cricket Australia has gone through tumultuous times in the recent past and Warne believes that this is India's best ever chance.
Warne stated, "I don't think they've ever been favourites here in Australia in a Test series but Australia aren't playing that great at the moment and India are the best side in the world in Tests, so it's going to be tough for the Aussies."
The background
The Australian cricket team always boasted a "win at all costs" attitude and in the tour of South Africa earlier this year, the then skipper Steven Smith along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were found guilty for ball-tampering.
Since then, Cricket Australia has gone through a downward spiral on the field and chaos in the administrative panel as well. Given the Test ranking of India and the struggles of Australia, the spin wizard has termed India the favourites.
The details
India's long tour of Australia has just got down to business with the Aussies clinching victory in the first T20 International, but Shane Warne hopes that they do well in both T20Is and Tests to beat India. However, Warne classified India as the favourites despite being the touring side owing to the woes Team Australia is facing in 2018.
Warne underlined that Australia has had a pretty ordinary year on the field and called 2018 as their worst ever year off the field due to the ball-tampering fiasco. It did not take long for Warne to appeal to the team to play the Australian way by being tough, uncompromising and most importantly, playing fair.
However, he still handed the favourites tag to India because of their dominance in the longest format of the game by becoming the number one ranked team in the ICC Rankings.
What's next?
Much to the relief of Australia, they clinched the first T20 International which should have come as a boost to their wretched morale. They will play the second T20I at the MCG on Friday.
Well, the Test series set to commence on 6th of December and a plethora of factors including the result of the T20I series will play a vital part in how Australia go about in the longest format of the game.