Brisbane
India are yet to shed their “poor travellers” tag but head coach Ravi Shastri feels it’s unfair to pick on one particular side when most of the nations have fared poorly on away tours. India have lost two away Test series in 2018, against South Africa (1-2) and England (1-4). This was after both tours were seen as best chance for Virat Kohli’s men to set the poor overseas record straight. Asked how important it is for India to win the series in Australia, Shastri said: “You have got to learn from your mistakes. When you go overseas and when you look at teams that travel around now, there aren’t too many sides .

“Australia did for some time in the 90s and at the turn of century. South Africa did it for a while and other than these two, in the last five-six years, you tell me which team has travelled well. Why pick on India?” questioned Shastri.

Asked whether he or skipper Kohli has spoken to the team as to why they lost in South Africa and England, Shastri said that it was all about “seizing big moments”. “We have spoken about seizing the big moments. If you look at the Test matches, the scoreline really doesn’t tell you the real story. There were some real tight Test matches and we lost some big moments badly, which cost us the series at the end of it,” the coach said in his team’s defence.