Twenty-one of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world can be found in Australia. But they are not the only deadly things Down Under. Just ask any visiting Test team. The pitches, the weather, the aggression, the crowd, the players, the overwhelming stadiums, the centuries-old history of Australian cricket that tells tales of unmatched glory and dominance—it's almost like it was all meticulously designed to make touring parties feel uncomfortable and eventually fold and surrender. Consider this:from 1993-94 to 2008-09, the Aussies were unbeaten at home in 28 consecutive home Test series.

In the last three decades (1994-95 to now), Australia have a Test win percentage of over 80 at home. Not surprisingly, tales of a Test match or series win by a visiting team are passed down from father to son to grandson. Jasprit Bumrah spoke about how he has ‘stories' to share with his son when he grows up after India won the Perth Test this time to go 1-0 up.

But then, not too many teams sport the badge of having beaten Australia in Australia. From 2000 till now, only two teams have won consecutive Test series in Australia—South Africa (2008-16) and India (2018-19 and 2020-21). And if the first Test of the ongoing series in Perth was anything to go by, it would be fair to say that Team India is a different beast altogether in Australian conditions now. No matter how wounded they are, no matter how young the squad, the self-belief that they can beat the Aussies in their own den is something that does not desert them these days. Though they had won historic back-to-back series on their last two tours, this time, Team India went into the five-Test series as the underdogs. After all, they had been whitewashed by the Kiwis and completely humbled at home in a three-Test series for the first time ever. That coupled with the fact that Australia began the series as the No. 1 team and that the first Test was played at the traditionally fast and bouncy Western Australia venue of Perth (albeit at the newer Optus stadium) meant that the home team were tagged favourites. And yet, the ultimate result was a comprehensive 295-run win for India as they breached the Perth fortress—something they couldn't do on their 2018-19 tour (Perth didn't host a Test on India's last tour in 2020-21). And that too without the services of the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Mohammed........

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