Ravichandran Ashwin says Australia will be deemed "weak" if they complain about homesickness

Australia will be high on confidence after drubbing Pakistan 3-0 in the recently concluded Test series but they will be well aware of the fact that the Indian subcontinent will be a totally different challenge altogether and they have to play out of their skins to beat the No.1 side in the world in their territory. The Aussies have performed very poorly in the subcontinent with their last win coming way back in 2011.

While a tough tour like India always take the toll especially if your team is not performing to their potential, in their last Test series in India, the Aussies were brushed aside 4-0 by the MS Dhoni-led Team India. Many of the Australians during that tour couldn’t wait to go back and homesickness started creeping in. It became more evident after their lacklustre performance.

The tour will be remembered for the axing of players like James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson. These players failed to answer on what was needed for the improvement of their individual and the team performance after the thumping loss in Hyderabad. Johnson even considered quitting the tour early.

While many of the Australian players are now used to their life in India courtesy the Indian Premier League, the atmosphere can still be demanding for the touring team in India especially when things doesn’t fall into place. Indian spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin during an interview with Times of India said that the Aussies will be deemed “weak” if they complain about homesickness during their 7-week tour in India.

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“If you look around, India is such a country where we are used to hardships. We don’t have the time to complain,” he was quoted as saying by the TOI.

“We see a lot of these foreign cricketers. English cricketers, Australian cricketers talk about being … they are actually depressed, they are away from home, they are home sick. But you never get to see that with the Indians. There are two things – one, we are not used to saying this and two when they actually say this, we don’t really respect it. We actually kick them on the back side saying they are weak.”

The Indians has been resurgent in the longest format off late especially at home and given their brilliant performances against the Kiwis and the Brits, it won’t be a surprise if they go on to beat Australia 4-0. Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been instrumental in India’s success in the longest format over the last couple of years and his sheer consistency at the highest level has kept the team in terrific stead of the series against the Aussies.

“I think Virat has a very different kind of confidence. It is not quiet confidence, it is exuberant confidence, which can be very infectious. Sometimes it can be a little too much for someone to assimilate it,” Ashwin said.

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“Many a time I have seen him say: ‘Okay, don’t worry I’ll make the runs’. It could be even 400 runs and he would say he will make it. That’s an amazing sense of self-confidence for someone to have. And he’s got extraordinary skill to back that confidence. I think his confidence stems from a lot of good work ethic.

“I think he’s also come from the culture where we have seen India hardly win few games together,” Ashwin concluded