Australia vs India 2018: Ravichandran Ashwin Will Perform Well in Australia - Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara has backed Team India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to succeed in the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia starting from December 6.

Meanwhile, the visitors surprised one and all taking a day break three days prior to the first Test at the Adelaide Oval. Speaking at the press conference on December 3 (Monday), Pujara admitted that Ashwin has worked hard to overturn his poor record in Australia.

Ravichandran Ashwin has bagged 21 wickets at an average of 54.71 in six previous Tests in Australia.  However, this statistics is in odds with his overall test record of 336 wickets at 25.44.

“If you see his recent bowling, I think he has made a lot of changes,” Pujara said. “I can’t describe what it is, not in front of the media. But he has made some adjustments which has helped him.

He has played enough cricket in England which is obviously different conditions, not much help for the spinner. So I think when he’s playing in Australia, he knows what he has to do. He has also played a series in 2015 (here) so he’s very confident now. And whatever adjustments he had to make, he has already done it,” Cheteshwar Pujara added.

Winning a series in Australia is the biggest motivation

India has yet to win a test series in Australia in 11 attempts and Pujara admitted overturning the record was a large motivation.

“Being the No 1 Test team, we always look to win each and every series and this is no different,” he said. “We definitely want to win the series, but one Test match at a time.

“In India we have been doing really well but whenever we travel overseas there is always an extra motivation to do well. And we have been playing good cricket outside of India now and this is a very good opportunity for the team to perform well,” he concluded.