Bangalore, Oct 3 (PTI) India coach Gary Kirsten today said the Test
series against Australia would be an intense "mental battle" and a win
will boil down to which of the two teams handle the high-pressure
atmosphere better.
"Lot of the time (in the series), it's going to boil down to what
happens in a pressure situation", Kirsten said on the coming four-Test
series against Ricky Pointing's side.

"Who is going to be calmest in that (pressure) situation ... Who's
going to back himself and believe in himself ... I think that's what
it's going to boil down to", Kirsten said.

The first Test begins at M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on October 9.

Kirsten said with the two teams almost evenly matched, the series
promises to be nothing short of a cliffhanger.

"We know that Australians will be well prepared when they come and
they would have done all the homework," he said.

But the Coach insisted that India is well-prepared to meet the Aussie
challenge.

"If one takes into account the statistics over the last 20 Test
matches between India and Australia, it can be seen India has got the
best record against Australia of all the Test-playing nations," he said.

Kirsten said the Indian team has got a "good idea" of what they want
to do against the Australians and how to match them. PTI

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