‘Will be bigger and stiffer this time’: Rahul Dravid sends Steve Smith-David Warner warning to Virat Kohli & Co.

The 2018-19 Test series in Australia proved to be a historic one for Virat Kohli-led Indian team. It was the first time an Indian team had won a Test series Down Under. Despite the massive achievement, fans continue to debate whether the results could have been different if David Warner and Steve Smith were a part of that Tim Paine-led team. Australia struggled in their batting department suffering a collapse multiple times in the four-match Test series. But this time when India will visit Australia, both Smith and Warner are expected to be in the team and India batting legend Rahul Dravid believes it could become a stiffer challenge for Kohli & co.

“I think it’s going to be a great series. Especially after India won last time, it was a fantastic win for India. So they (Australia) will be keen to correct that and there has been a lot of talk about that. It is the marquee series of the year and there has been great build up. I am really hoping we will be back to normal or at least normal enough to play the series,” Dravid said at Sony Sports’ Ten Pit Stop show which was aired Live on their Facebook page.

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“It should be a cracking series between two top class teams. Australia are back to full strength with Smith and Warner. I think the area Australia struggled last time was their batting, they kept collapsing. Never gave their bowlers enough time to rest and they would hope it doesn’t happen this time,” he added.

Dravid further said that India’s bowling attack has tremendously improved in the past couple of years, and it woudd be a great contest between the bowlers and the batsmen. “India’s bowling has been great over the last couple of years, so it should be a great contest between bat and ball. Australia can always look back to last time and say Smith and Warner, our best players, were not there. This time hopefully all the best players from both teams will be competing.

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“Missing Smith and Warner was big for Australia because of the kind of impact they have on the team. They are the best batsmen they have and score the maximum runs. You saw the kind of impact Smith had on the Ashes...It is going to be a bigger and stiffer challenge this time around. India has got the firepower to compete with that. They have some top players too,” he added.

India are expected to visit Australia for a series in October this year. The two teams are scheduled to play 3 T20Is and after which they will play the four-match Test series, the first of which will be played in Adelaide starting from December 3. India and Australia will also play three ODIs.