Former England opener Geoff Boycott says India stands a good chance of beating Australia in the Test series later this year at home but warned that Ricky Ponting and his men are keen to avenge the defeat they suffered in 2001.
"India can beat Australia in October. If everybody is fit there is a good chance of beating but it won't be easy. The Aussies are very keen to avenge their last defeat. They are pretty upset about it," Boycott told reporters in Bangalore on Monday.
Australia, rightful world champions in both Test and one-day cricket, believe that India got away on their last tour because of that fantastic innings by "magic man" V V S Laxman.
Although Boycott described India's drawn series against Australia Down Under last season as "quite good", he said India were a bit lucky that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were not in action. But the win in Pakistan was "excellent", he added.
Describing India as a very good team, Boycott said the team had a brilliant last season. "Now, they have to take it to the next level and do it again and do it better. That's the secret of all great players and great teams... consistently keep on doing it."
Stating that India is improving all the time, he described Sourav Ganguly as a very good captain "who handles his players and is pulling them together; he is quite strong mentally".
To a question, Boycott said while the Indian team is doing fine, his only concern is that a couple of bowlers keep breaking down.
"While everybody gets an odd, occasional injury, one or two of them keep breaking down. That's not good."
He rated Anil Kumble as the third best spinner in the world after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan and placed Harbhajan Singh in the fourth spot. "After that (four spots) there is a big gap; there is dearth of quality spinners in the world."
Asked if he believes master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is yet to peak, Boycott refused to comment, saying he does not want to talk about individual players.
On when he expects the West Indies to be back on top of the world cricket, Boycott quipped: "To find out about that I would have go to church and pray."
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