Ashwin fires away after Australia announce Perth as venue for 1st India Test: 'We don't struggle against pace anymore'

Ravichandran Ashwin says he and his team are ready for Australia's Perth challenge that will be thrown at India when they make a trip Down Under for the five-Test series starting November. Cricket Australia announced the schedule and venue for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with Perth's Optus Stadium hosting the opener on November 22. India have won their last two Test series in Australia and are currently in possession of the BGT since 2017. Australia, who have historically chosen either Adelaide or Brisbane as the venue for the first Test, have made a switch and gone ahead with the 'bouncy' Perth to welcome India with some chin music.

However, Ashwin feels that the days of India being intimidated by pace are a thing of the past. That India have lost just two Tests out of their last eight Down Under speaks volumes about how far the team has come from their days of struggle in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2019-19, under Virat Kohli, India celebrated their first Test triumph in Australia in 71 years before Ajinkya Rahane doubled it up two years later. And this time around, as Rohit Sharma aims to make it a hat-trick, Ashwin reckons India and its batters are more than ready to tackle whatever it is that Australia is planning.

"Perth on Day 1 generally tends to start off slow and that's why Australia always wins the toss and bat first. I think they do that all the time. But what doesn't change is that people are not really struggling for pace. You will not find an Indian travelling side that is coming into Australia and struggling against pace. They might take a couple of hits on the helmet because the wicket quickens up on Day 2 and 3 but I think gone are those times when people are surprised. The cricketers that I am seeing are coming through over the last decade or two are those who want to get hit on the head and take it on. And that's why you see that the Indian teams who travel abroad have produced results," Ashwin said on the Club Prairie Fire podcast.

The Indian team that will travel to Australia is expected to feature a relatively young squad. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are pretty much done playing Tests for India, but the emergence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill brings exciting times ahead for Indian cricket. What happens to Shreyas Iyer from this point onward remains to be seen, but with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant likely to return, along with the star power of Rohit and Virat Kohli, India do stand a solid chance to make it three out of three.

Current crop of youngsters not afraid of anything: Ashwin

Ashwin seems confident of this up-and-coming bunch of youngsters, who won a grueling five-Test series against England at home and levelled the South Africa Tests by winning the second Test in Cape Town. Jaiswal in particular had a coming-of-age series, as he plundered over 700 runs in five Tests against England, followed by Gill amassing 400-plus runs of his own. But that's the thing about this current crop of Indian youngsters. Fearless, exciting and full of thrill.

"We literally had half the experience that South Africa had when we played that Test match in Centurion. So many guys were playing SA for the first time. We got hammered in Centurion but in Cape Town we were able to pull things back. It's the belief and the ability and also not taking a backward step. These guys have it and make no mistake that the kind of Test cricket we have played over the last decade and the kind of things that we have said, has definitely had a bearing on them," added Ashwin.

The Perth game will be followed by a pink-ball Test in Adelaide starting December 6. The Gabba in Brisbane will host the third Test from December 14, followed by the iconic Boxing Day game at the MCG. Sydney will be the venue for the fifth and final Test starting January 3. Ashwin is eagerly anticipating the showdown of the two giants, given everything that surrounds an Australian cricket summer, and even though the Aussies hold the edge in terms of experience, India have what it takes to more than make up for the lack of depth in that department, asserts the off-spinner.

"Knowing the Australian cricket team and how competitive they are, they will be waiting for us to come there. Any tour of Australia is very exciting. You get some wonderful, house-full crowd. But yeah, looking forward to the approach Australia will be taking. Steve Smith opening, David Warner not being there. There is a little bit of reshuffling in their batting order and the team. The three pace bowlers and Nathan Lyon have been a constant for the last decade or so. That's a lot of experience. We will have a bit of inexperience but I do think that cricketers coming through the ranks are very good players of fast bowling. If the pitches are not too green, I feel it's going to be a high-scoring series," Ashwin pointed out.