3 things India need to do to win the Test series in Australia

India are all set to tour Australia, a land where India are yet to win a Test series. However looking at the current quality of sides and keeping other circumstances in mind, this is probably the best chance India have ever had to win a Test series in Australia. The same thing was said before the 2011-12 and the 2014-15 tours as well, but Australia managed to beat India 4-0 and 2-0 respectively.

The 2011-12 series was a completely one-sided affair and India only showed brilliance in patches. The story was a lot better in 2014-15, where India almost managed to chase down a mammoth 372 and narrowly lost the second Test by four wickets and put up brave fights in the third and fourth Test for draws.

The major advantage India have this time is that Australia will be without their regular Captain and Vice-captain, both of whom have proven to be barriers against India in Australia. Australia will find it really difficult to fill in the huge shoes of Warner and Smith but even then the Aussies at their own backyard can never be taken lightly. They still possess a very potent pace attack in Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins and Siddle and a really cunning offie in Lyon, who can run through the Indian batting order at will.

Now talking about the chances or India in this series, the pace attack comprising of Ishant, Shami, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah and Umesh promises a lot. The attack has lived up to its expectations and sometimes even exceeded expectations during the tours to South Africa and England earlier this year.

And Kohli and Rahane have a glorious history down under, which they should take confidence from. But that will not be enough to beat Australia in Australia.

Here are three things India need to do to create history.

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Getting proper starts with the bat

One of the major reasons why India have not done well in overseas Tests in this decade has been the inability of openers to provide good starts. The openers also failed miserably in the tours to South Africa and England this year, so much that Murali Vijay had to be dropped in the middle of the England series and Dhawan was dropped for the West Indies series at home.

KL Rahul, despite having failed on the whole tour of England, managed to score a brilliant 100 in the fourth innings of the fifth Test and thus managed to hold his place and will probably start as the first choice opener in Australia series and will be accompanied by young Prithvi Shaw, with Mayank Agarwal as the backup opener.

If we have a close look at India's overseas success in the previous decade, we will see how significantly the openers contributed back then. Not only in terms of runs but also the art of blunting the new ball proved quite effective, which is missing among the current set of openers.

For India to have success in Australia, the openers need to take a leaf from the book of Sehwag-Chopra of the 2003-04 tour.

Grabbing opportunities With both hands

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day Five

India have been guilty of letting the opposition off the hook and hence losing matches from winnable positions. The Birmingham Test when England were 86/7 in the second innings but managed to reach 180 is one such example where the bowlers failed to capitalise on a strong foundation. The batting collapse in the fourth innings of the fourth Test of the same series was an instance when the batsmen let go the advantage.

The batting collapses have become a familiar issue with the Indian team since the beginning of this decade. And also not being able to finish off the tail of the opposition has also harmed India's chances a lot of times this decade. Both of the above-mentioned issues need to be taken care of immediately for winning overseas.

It is high time the team learns from its mistakes from the past and find a way to turn the tables

Proper man management

England v India: Specsavers 2nd Test - Day Four

The Kohli-Shastri duo has been guilty of poor man-management, as a result of which the players have not been able to play in the right mindset. Kohli never played with the same team for two consecutive tests until the 4th test in England this year. Except for Kohli and Saha every individual in the team has been dropped at some point or other ever since Kohli too over the captaincy. This constant chopping and changing have affected the games of players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay, as a result of which they were seen playing differently from their natural style of play.

Not only them, almost everyone in the team has been a victim of this chopping and changing and hence the fear of security has crept into the minds of many, which is visible in the way they approach the games.

At resent, these are the major issues that need to be immediately taken care of for creating history on Australian soil, which this team is actually capable of doing.