Kumble relishing Australia challenge

Anil Kumble is determined India can win back the Border-Gavaskar trophy

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India captain Anil Kumble is confident the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia can live up to the hype.

The first of the four Tests begins in Bangalore tomorrow and Kumble hopes to regain the trophy which they lost to the Australians in an acrimonious series Down Under earlier this year.

Kumble believes the controversies of the Sydney Test, where Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds infamously clashed, are a thing of the past.

But he does accept series between the two sides always attract added interest.

"India versus Australia is not really a rivalry kind of a thing,” he said.

"But I think it all started probably in 2001 in Kolkata when we won the Test match (after being asked to follow on) and the series.

"Since then India-Australia series have always been something which everybody looks forward to.

"A lot of events happened off the field in Australia (in the series earlier this year).

"But we played very good cricket there after losing the first Test quite badly.

"I thought we played exceptionally well to come back in that series."

India could yet move up to second in the ICC Test rankings if they beat the Australians by a margin of two Tests or better and Kumble believes he has the team to achieve that feat.

"As a team, the bowling has shaped up really well in the last year,” he said. "Ishant Sharma has been particularly impressive. He has grown in stature with every game he has played.

"Zaheer Khan has bowled really well since he came back from injury.

"On the batting side, Virender Sehwag has done exceptionally well as an opening batsman.

"So it has come together pretty well as a team."

But India are expected to bank heavily on the strength of their slow bowlers, with Kumble's wrist spin likely to be as prominent as ever.

Kumble has not been as potent in the last year, but he does not think having the captaincy has contributed.

Cameron White could make his Test debut as Australia's solo specialist spinner in Bangalore

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"At times you bowl well and don't take wickets, so I don't think captaincy has been a burden,” he said.

"At times my job has been to block runs help the others get the wickets.

"As long as we keep winning matches, it does not matter whether I take the wickets or someone else gets the wickets.

"You would want to see a lot of wickets against your name, but this is a team sport.

"At the end of the day, my job is to see that everyone contributes to the team effort."

With his spin department running low on stock, Australia captain Ricky Ponting will be relying on his battery of pacemen to deliver.

Australia's first-choice slow bowler Bryce McGain returned home after injuring his shoulder and Cameron White was rushed out as a replacement.

White, who plays for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League, is expected to be selected in the first Test ahead of Jason Krejza.

Off-spinner Krejza was hammered for 199 wicketless runs in the warm-up game against the Board President's XI.

Fitness doubts also surround vice-captain Michael Clarke, who hit a double century on Test debut in Bangalore four years ago.

Clarke, though, is hoping to play the same brand of cricket he exhibited in the 2004 series.

"I'm four years older since I last came here, but the mindset is pretty similar," he said.

"I have great and very fond memories of my first Test in Bangalore. I'm looking forward to playing similar Test cricket here.

“The Indian team is a very strong team and they have a lot of very good players.”

A side issue of the series will be Sachin Tendulkar’s pursuit of the world record for runs in Tests.

India's leading run-scorer with 11,877 needs only 77 to pass Brian Lara’s mark.

“Hopefully it would take Sachin Tendulkar four Tests to get those 70-odd runs,” Clarke said.

"But I think it is important that we just concentrate on our job and make sure we play well."