Kohli eyeing maiden series win in Aus

India captain Virat Kohli spoke about his team's approach in the upcoming series against Australia, the significant loss of Hardik Pandya, and negating Nathan Lyon on the eve of the first Test in Adelaide on 6 December.

India have been slow starters on overseas tours recently in England and South Africa, but Kohli wants to change that. To that end, he has asked his team to become quicker in adapting to the conditions.

"We are not looking to start tentatively," he said on Wednesday. "We all want to express ourselves and go out there and be positive. We want to bring our A-game in the first game and capitalise as the series goes on.”

The hosts will continue without Steve Smith and David Warner, with both still serving bans for the ball-tampering incident in March. This is, therefore, considered India's best chance of winning their maiden series Down Under, but Kohli talked that down. 

"I personally don't think any Australian side is vulnerable at home," he said. "We cannot take any side for granted and more so Australia. Regardless of all the things that have gone by, their skill levels are still there. We'll have to be at our best to get the results that we want here.

"As a side, we're looking to correct the mistakes from the last two tours. The focus is completely on our side."

Tim Paine, the Australia captain, said both victory and regaining the respect of the country were high priorities for the team as they take on India in a four-Test series.

"We play Test cricket to win, there is no doubt about that,” said Paine on Wednesday. “Clearly we've realised we needed to do some work in some areas, and gaining the respect of our country is as high a priority as is winning.”