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#INDAvAUS: We're underdogs but want to show fight, resilience: Steve Smith

Smith wants to see this bunch of Australians at least give a fight to the Indians and not surrender meekly like they did in 2013

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It's a bit weird for an Australian cricket team to be completely written off before the start of a Test series. They have been known to dominate, to fight, to play a brand of cricket that entertains people.

But they're touted to do none of it in the four-Test series against India starting here on Thursday. Cricket experts have shown no mercy to them in their predictions, the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh foreseeing a whitewash by the hosts.

But while Australia captain Steve Smith isn't willing to put his money on those predictions, he is honest enough in his assessment.

"Yeah, we are the underdogs in this series," Smith said here on Wednesday.

"You hear comments like (from) Harbhajan who expect us to lose 4-0. That's not how we feel. We want to compete here against India. It's going to be a tough series, they've got some quality players in their line-up from 1 to 11," he added.

Underdogs they may be, but Smith wants to see this bunch of Australians at least give a fight to the Indians and not surrender meekly like they did in 2013.

"What I want to see from my boys is the ability to adapt to the plans we have in place, and show some fight and resilience in tough situations. There are going to be difficult moments in games, some key moments that we need to identify. Hopefully, we can have the skills in place and plans in place and mindsets in place to counteract those difficult moments," he said.

And thus, despite it officially being an optional training session for the visitors on Wednesday, every player other than the two big fast bowlers – Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – turned up to put in those final touches to their preparations on a hot afternoon.

The Australian Test team hasn't had the best of years in 2016, losing to Sri Lanka 3-0 away and later going down to South Africa at their den as well. That defeat resulted in a big shake-up of their Test team, and they've now got to India some young, fresh blokes hungry for success.

"We're very motivated," Smith said. "Obviously some of the away performances of late haven't been up to standard from my point of view and the Australian cricket team's point of view. We want to change the way we play away from home."

That hasn't been happening for a while now. The last time Australia won a Test in the sub-continent was against Sri Lanka way back in August 2011. Since then, they've lost nine straight Tests in Asia, with all three series being whitewashes: India 4-0 in 2013, Pakistan 2-0 in 2014 and Sri Lanka 3-0 in 2016.

"For me, it's about starting things fresh. We have come here with a positive mindset. The more we think about the last time we came here or Sri Lanka, we start to lose the battle straight away," Smith said.
"We've lost nine Tests in Asia, and we want to win one. We're going to be trying our best to do that," he added.

DID YOU KNOW?

The last time Australia won a Test in the sub-continent was against Sri Lanka in August 2011. Since then, they've lost nine straight Tests in Asia (4-0 against India in 2013, 2-0 against Pakistan in 2014 and 3-0 against Sri Lanka in 2016)

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