Australia may have come to India with an inexperienced squad, but that doesn't make India's task any easier, believes Sourav Ganguly.
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer, who played key roles in Australia's victory over India in 2004, have hung up their boots. None of the bowlers in the current Australian squad have played a Test match in India before, while the hosts boast of one of the most experienced line-ups in Test cricket.
But Ganguly still rates the Australians as a very tough team and says India will not start the four-match series as favourites.
"As I said, they are a very good side. I don't think anyone can start as favourites. It's what you do on the park and that can change every day. They will be a tough side and a hard side to beat," he said in Bangalore on Thursday, before announcing his retirement.
He also said India must not read too much into Australia's feeble showing in the match against the Board President's XI, when the visitors struggled to cope up with India's young talent.
"You should never judge any touring team on the basis of a practice game. Test matches are different, practice games are different. As a team, you try a whole lot of things in a practice match before you get to Test cricket and this Australian team will be as formidable as those of the past. You can say they lack a quality spinner, but they have other people who can make up for it," he said.
Asked the reason why India is the only team to give Australia a run for its money, the left-hander replied: "There are some players who peak against good teams. You have players like VVS [Laxman] or Sachin [Tendulkar], who have good records against Australia. Plus we have always produced quality spinners, and good spinners will do well against any team."
He also refused to compare the two bowling attacks, but pointed out that Australia are lacking in the spin department.
"It is two different types of attacks. Every team plays to their strengths. They're a little bit behind in spin. Their attack will be based around pace. Our strength has been Anil [Kumble] and Harbhajan , though Zaheer [Khan] and Ishant [Sharma] have also done very well. Two different teams play according to their strengths," he said.
The former India captain said Australia's victory in 2004 was largely due to bowlers like McGrath and Warne, who executed all their plans to perfection.
"They played differently last time [in 2004]. They also had the players to execute. They had Glenn McGrath, they had Shane Warne and they had [Jason] Gillespie, who was as good as anyone. They had the bowlers to execute it. It's going to be the same this time. Both teams will have plans, but how they execute it is important," he said.
But Ganguly added that the key factor in the series would the batting of the two teams.
"Whichever team puts runs on the board will put pressure on the opposition. That's the way Test cricket is played. If we can put runs on the board we'll put pressure on them," he said.
He felt the Australia's batting has genuine match winners in its ranks and is capable of delivering in any conditions.
"I'm sure with 30 Test hundreds, [Matthew] Hayden gets fired up against anyone. Obviously, he has a superb record against India. You have Ricky Ponting, who is one of the best, you have Michael Clarke who plays spin very well, you've seen what Michael Hussey can do. They're not the best side in the world for nothing," he said.
The left-hander believes that the Bangalore wicket will definitely help the spinners.
"This will turn as the Test match goes on. The Bangalore wicket has been a bit different over the last few years. It might get a bit up and down in the last couple of days. It's an older wicket now with more cricket played on it so I'm sure it must have settled down. But I'm sure there will be spin for the bowlers," he said.
