Dhoni determined to turn India into tougher tourists

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Having India shake off  their image as home-track bullies is one of captain Mahendra  Singh Dhoni’s goals as he bids to lead his team to a  breakthrough test series win in Australia.
India secured the world’s top ranking on home soil after  beating Sri Lanka at the end of 2009, but surrendered it meekly  to England on tour with a 4-0 whitewash in August.
While scratching out tour wins over lowly Bangladesh and New  Zealand, India’s home dominance has been tempered by drawn away  series with Sri Lanka and South Africa over the past two years.
“Consistently performing well on overseas tours is something  we are aiming for and as captain I see it as a challenge,” the  soft-spoken wicketkeeper-batsman told reporters in Melbourne on  Saturday.
“While we have done well in certain series, we have been  poor on tours this year so we need to prepare in a fashion that  will provide us with the best chance of winning the series.”
Although question marks remain over the fitness of  front-line pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, the team has  invested carefully in their preparations, arriving in Australia  two weeks before Monday’s first test at the Melbourne Cricket  Ground.
That contrasts with their hasty leadup in the last  Australian tour in 2007/08, when they were edged 2-1 after  pushing the hosts right to the end.
With their golden generation of batsmen almost certainly to  play their last series Down Under, India are fancied to upset a  disjointed Australian side with a raw bowling unit and new  selectors still searching for the team’s best 11.
Dhoni, who has made a career of investing in attention to  detail, had little time for debating underdogs versus  favourites.
“We are always under pressure so we don’t really think about  the tag,” he said.
“I don’t see Australia’s changing team being the reason we  have a good chance to perform well, it’s mostly about our  preparation and commitment to the task.
“As far as getting worried is concerned, I don’t see a  single area where we need to be really worried.
“If you see the batting line-up that we’ve got, it’s not the  first time that they will be touring Australia and it’s not the  first time they will be playing at the venue.
“They know the conditions very well … We are very  optimistic that we will do well in the test match.”