<p>After a forgettable India tour took Australia to their lowest Test rankings of five, many have tipped them to lose the Ashes series at home for the first time since 1986-87.<br /><br />"They are, in Australia, a very, very tough team to beat," Pietersen was quoted as saying in The Age Tuesday. <br /><br />"They're a wounded animal at the moment, and you know what happens when animals get wounded, they turn into fearsome predators. Let's hope that we can play well enough to conquer that."<br /><br />The 30-year-old Pietersen has averaged just 36.90 since the start of last year's Ashes series and hasn't made a Test hundred since March 2009. He, however, shrugged off any worries pertaining his form.<br /><br />"Every single time I've played against Australia for the month leading into it and days leading up to the first Test, there's a lot of things which get said which have absolutely no bearing on what happens after the first ball's bowled," Pietersen said.<br /><br />"I'm not prepared to get involved, I'm not prepared to add any fuel to any fire which they might have started.<br /><br />"I just want to go out and play some really tough, hard cricket, competitive cricket and challenge myself against the Australians in Australia.<br /><br />"I know that each one of the English players is very quietly confident that we'll do a lot better than we did last time."</p>
<p>After a forgettable India tour took Australia to their lowest Test rankings of five, many have tipped them to lose the Ashes series at home for the first time since 1986-87.<br /><br />"They are, in Australia, a very, very tough team to beat," Pietersen was quoted as saying in The Age Tuesday. <br /><br />"They're a wounded animal at the moment, and you know what happens when animals get wounded, they turn into fearsome predators. Let's hope that we can play well enough to conquer that."<br /><br />The 30-year-old Pietersen has averaged just 36.90 since the start of last year's Ashes series and hasn't made a Test hundred since March 2009. He, however, shrugged off any worries pertaining his form.<br /><br />"Every single time I've played against Australia for the month leading into it and days leading up to the first Test, there's a lot of things which get said which have absolutely no bearing on what happens after the first ball's bowled," Pietersen said.<br /><br />"I'm not prepared to get involved, I'm not prepared to add any fuel to any fire which they might have started.<br /><br />"I just want to go out and play some really tough, hard cricket, competitive cricket and challenge myself against the Australians in Australia.<br /><br />"I know that each one of the English players is very quietly confident that we'll do a lot better than we did last time."</p>