Experience will be key on India tour: Simon Katich

For cricketers around the world, playing in India has always been a challenge. The turning wickets, heat, humidity and a partisan crowd have always worked against visitors and it won't be any different when India clash with Australia from October 1.


Simon Katich

Aussie opener Simon Katich is going to rely on his experience of having played in India before to counter the conditions.

"A tour to India is always difficult. They love playing at home and are always very tough to beat. Also, this current side has been pretty much settled since the last two years, so that will help them too," said Katich.
"In such circumstances, it becomes extremely vital to dig and use all the experience you have of playing in India over the years.

If you can do that successfully, anything can happen. My aim is to get off to a good start," said the southpaw, who has scored 625 runs from eight Tests in India at 44.64 with four fifties and a hundred.

With several top Australians retired, many in the team have not played Test cricket in India, something which has prompted many to believe that the hosts will have it easy in the two-Test series.

"They do lack Test match experience but most of them have played in the Indian Premier League and ODIs so they have a rough idea of what to expect.

"Also, we have senior players who have played in India often before and we have been talking about playing a five-day game in India with the inexperienced guys and giving them ideas on how they can go about things," Katich said.

Australia have struggled in the recent past, Katich felt the team has begun to shape up well once again under skipper Ricky Ponting.

"In the last few years we lost match-winners like Glen McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist. But after that the rebuilding process began under Ponting and now we are winning Test matches regularly. Gradually, we are beginning to reach where we want to be," Katich said.