NEW DELHI: Australian batsman Simon Katich reckons his team's rivalry against India has become "bigger" than the Ashes in recent times and predicts the upcoming Test series in October will be tough for his side.
Katich, who is currently in India leading the Australia 'A' team, said beating India at home in 2004 was one of the greatest victories for Australia and the team was geared up to repeat the feat.
Asked whether a series against India was bigger than the Ashes, Katich said " Definitely. I feel the hard fought series in 2001 when India won that Test match in Kolkata after being down in the dumps triggered this fascinating rivalry.
"Later we beat India in their own backyard in 2004 after 35 odd years and got the much-desired revenge. It was one of the greatest victories for us. Once again India came to Australia last year and it was a fantastic series. This year in October once again it's going to be a toughie for us. I can't wait for it", he said.
Recalling the tour of 2004, he said the Australian quick bowlers did a fantastic job getting the ball to reverse.
"That definitely helped us beat the Indians. Shane Warne's contributions can be easily forgotten since the quickies grabbed all the wickets but honestly he played the role of support bowler really well and got the breakthroughs at crucial junctures", he said.
In the third Test match of that series in Nagpur, Sourav Ganguly had a spat with the curator and opted out of the Test match and Katich believes that development helped the Australians.
"We thought it worked towards our benefit. We smelled a rift in the enemy camp and it was good for us. We saw some grass on the pitch and loved it. We carried a lot of confidence after the comprehensive victory in Bangalore. We were going into Nagpur knowing that we could strike the rod when it was hot", Katich said.
"However we were aware that the Indians have a fantastic batting line-up and we could not have made the mistake on underestimating them... It was one of the happiest moments in our cricketing lives, to know that we had done something that our predecessors had not achieved", he said.
On Adam Gilchrist's captaincy during that series, Katich said "Gilchrist's captaincy on that tour was simply fabulous. The manner in which he tackled the spinners and handled the bowlers was amazing.
"John Buchanan made a lot of useful contributions too. We used to sit and chalk out plans on how to dismiss VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid and touchwood all of them worked to our advantage", he said.
Australia's new-look pace trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark have never featured in a Test match in India before. How fast would they be able to adjust to the conditions?
"It's true that these guys have not played a Test match in India before but they have travelled to India and have a sense of the conditions. All three have been doing terrifically well in the last 12 months or so and the fact that they got to bowl at the Indians last year is a huge plus point.
