“Toughest challenge in Test cricket”: David Warner and Steve Smith rate Test series win in India over away Ashes victory

Forget fans or former cricketers, current members of the Australian cricket team are themselves drawing parallels between Test series in India and England. Although there is immense history and nostalgia associated with Test series between Australia and England, Australia-India Test rivalry isn’t much behind primarily due to the close contests between the two teams in the last two decades or so.

Australia, who face themselves in a fascinating position of playing a total of nine Test matches in England and India across a couple of series within a handful of months, have a rare but golden opportunity to win both the series and register perhaps the biggest moment in the individual careers of the current players.

Hence, Australia captain Pat Cummins was absolutely correct to use terms like “career highlight” and “era-defining” in a recent video uploaded by cricket.com.au across their social media handles. “Winning a series in India is like an Ashes away series,” Cummins summed up the importance of both the series for them.

David Warner and Steve Smith rate Test series win in India over away Ashes victory

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who is set to miss the first Test in Nagpur due to a hand injury, didn’t mince his words to claim India to be “one of the hardest places to play away from home” in cricket’s ancestral format. Spinner Nathan Lyon, who will be touring India for the third time in this format, acknowledged the “hard work” needed particular from his side for his team to do well in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

A celebrated name in India, veteran Australia batter David Warner spoke on similar lines stating that beating India in India is the “toughest challenge” for them in Test cricket.

“[Test tour of India] Always a hard graft. One thing I’m looking forward is to applying myself against the best spinners in the world. Being a part of that last Ashes series [in 2019] was fantastic but to go to India and beat India in India, that’s the toughest challenge in Test cricket for us,” Warner told cricket.com.au.

Warner, who has scored in excess of 5,500 runs in 150 T20s in India at an average and strike rate of 43.66 and 144.32 respectively, hasn’t been able to replicate the same success in Test cricket here. Readers must note that Warner’s 388 runs across 14 Test innings in India have come at a substandard average of 24.25 comprising three half-centuries.

Unlike Warner, Australia Test vice-captain Steven Smith has been able to leave a mark in Test matches played in India as well. In six Tests across a couple of tours, Smith’s 660 runs have come at an average of 60. It is noteworthy that one of Smith’s three Test centuries in India had come in a winning cause in a low-scoring encounter almost half-a-decade ago.

However, much like Warner, Smith also prioritized a Test victory in India over an overseas Ashes series win. “Difficult place to win a Test match, let along a series. [For us] To be able to topple them [India] out, that will be huge. I think if he can win in India, it’ll be bigger than an Ashes series,” Smith was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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