India vs Australia: Darren Lehmann insists visitors need to be 'methodical and well prepared'

Melbourne: Australia coach Darren Lehmann is not losing his sleep over getting 20 Indian wickets but said it will be a challenge for his batsmen to score big runs and hoped someone would step up like Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn did in the past tours. Australia will play India in the upcoming four-Test series starting on 23 February in Pune and Lehmann said his boys will have to play flawless cricket. [caption id=“attachment_3206802” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Australian captain Steve Smith (L) and head coach Darren Lehmann. AFP[/caption] “Everything’s going to have to go right, that’s a simple fact of life. You’ve got to be really methodical, well prepared,” said Lehmann, who was part of the team that last won a Test in India in 2004. “You have to hold on to each catch for a start … You have to put pressure. We need to battle on. I think England played reasonably well but even then lost 4-0. If there is one thing that they would have backed themselves is score bigger runs and that is going to be a challenge for the group. “We have got spinners who can take 20 wickets and quicks we can reverse the ball, so we’re not fearing getting the 20 wickets, we’ve just got to put enough scoreboard pressure on them,” he added. It was Damien Martyn, who had scored two centuries to help Australia claim a 2-1 win in the four-Test series against India in 2004, while Matthew Hayden had an outstanding series in 2001, where he scored 549 runs in Australia’s narrow 2-1 series loss. “The great thing about the Australian team for years is with back to the walls it brings the best of the players. So someone like Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn would come out from nowhere and play well in tour. “We hope we have a Martyn or Hayden type series from someone. If we do that, we’ll make enough runs and it would help with the ball as well,” he said. Lehmann said the Australian team has been analysing the video of Indian players as part of their preparation ahead of India tour. “They’ve been doing that for a while. The lads are pretty good with that sort of stuff now, they’ve had that on file now for probably two or three months,” he said. “We just have to play pressure cricket for five days. Any away tour is really tough … For us, subcontinent tours are the frontier if you like. “It (winning) would mean a hell of a lot to a young group. But look, they are just focused on winning the first day of first Test in Pune, that’s what we can be worried about at the moment. So we would give them the best tools to succeed there, that is important for us,” he added. So how to dismiss India skipper Virat Kohli? “Bowl well and have a bit of luck along the way,” pat comes the reply from the Aussie coach. “He is a class player so we have to come up with a plan that works for us in picking up wickets in these conditions. That’s going to be a challenge but we can’t be worrying too much about the outcome. “We’re going to have to pick up certain areas … Playing a world-class side like India is going to be tough.