MELBOURNE: Brett Lee enjoys a status in India which his teammates can only dream and the Australian spearhead said he is ready to put behind his broken marriage to make his Test debut in India.
Lee skipped the ODI series against Bangladesh after his marriage with Liz Kemp collapsed, forcing him into a self-imposed exile. Though he initially thought to give the series a miss, the speedster eventually changed his mind and sounded pretty upbeat about playing his first Test in India.
"India is a great place to tour -- the culture, the food, the people, the atmosphere and the crowds over there are just brilliant," Lee said.
"Even though they may be cheering for the Indians, they've still got a love for Australians," he said.
"It's tough place to play cricket, but also very enjoyable."
Australia is set to announce their team for the India tour next week and the first of the four Test matches start on October 9.
Lee admitted he initially thought about skipping the series.
"It's only been the last couple of days...It's been one of those things where it was just going to be a time thing, so if it didn't work out and I didn't think I was fit enough or I wasn't ready to go, more so mentally ... but I'm feeling great on both fronts and I'm actually looking forward to it," he said.
Though he did not talk about his marriage woes, Lee said joining teammates at Darwin was a good move on his part.
"I thought it would be a wise move to get out of Sydney and just come up here and spend some time in Darwin and see how the lads are going and get back into the feel of things again," he said.
He also sought to derive some positives from his exile and said, "The time I've had away from cricket both physically and mentally, it actually freshened me right up so I hope down the back-end this is going to prolong my cricketing life.
"I'm right, I'm feeling fit, I'm feeling fresh and I'm looking forward to the next tour," he said.
