A large core of pundits believes India are ripe for the picking on their tour of Australia, but within the Aussie ranks, there is healthy respect for Anil Kumble's men.

Mike Hussey, Mr Cricket himself, is among those of the opinion that the Indians will give a good account of themselves. “It's a huge challenge for the team,” the left-handed middle-order bat said here on Friday. “All the guys are really excited about it. We love playing the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy but we had an eye on this Indian series coming up. Both teams have been playing some excellent cricket over the past year, and it is shaping up to be a wonderful series.

“The amount of cricket India have played in the last one year has been tremendous. But they are playing very good cricket. They have got good momentum going, they have got good form behind them. They have beaten England in England, they have beaten Pakistan at home. They have got a lot of experienced cricketers who have played in Australia, and played well in Australia. I am expecting one of the toughest challenges we have had in quite some time.”

Hussey refused to read too much into India's top-order not firing against Victoria here on Thursday. “I didn't see what the condition of the pitch was or the overhead conditions,” said Hussey, whose brother David is captaining the Bushrangers against the Indians. “Sometimes, it is difficult for touring teams as soon as they get to Australia to adapt and adjust to conditions. I don't think I would be reading too much into their first hit out here. Come Boxing Day, everything will be different.”

Asked if the Aussies would come down to the Junction Oval on Saturday to see the Indian pacers in action, he replied, “I have seen most of their bowlers before. We have done quite a bit of preparation work — video footage —and we have faced all of their guys before.  Different guys will have their own plans about how they are going to handle different bowlers. You look at when we played Sri Lanka, each of the Australian batsmen played Murali in their own different way. I am sure it will be no different in this series.”

Hussey also chose not to dwell on Rahul Dravid opening the batting in the warm-up game. “I haven't thought too much at all about it,” he noted. “I am not sure if he is going to open in the Test matches or not. But he is a quality player, a world-class player, and he has been that for such a long time. For someone of that class, he could bat anywhere in the order. If he opens the batting, he is going to do as good a job as 3, 4, 5, 6 or even ten!”

The Australian think-tank is still to make up its mind about whether to play four seamers, or plump for variety in the shape of Brad Hogg's left-arm wrist spin, for the Boxing Day Test. “I would personally like a spin option,” Hussey said. “I don't know which way the selectors are going to go. Luckily, I don't have to make the decision! The selectors have a tough choice to make, but the good thing is that everyone is bowling well. Whichever way Ricky and the selectors decide to go, we will have a very good team on the park.”