It's a mental battle against the Aussies: Kirsten

Bangalore: India coach Gary Kirsten on Friday said the Test series against Australia would be an intense "mental battle" and a win will boil down to which of the two teams handled the high-pressure atmosphere better.

"Lot of the time (in the series), it's going to boil down to what happens in a pressure situation", Kirsten said on the coming four-Test series against Ricky Ponting's side.

"Who is going to be calmest in that (pressure) situation ... Who's going to back himself and believe in himself ... I think that's what it's going to boil down to", Kirsten said.

The first Test begins at M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on October 9.

Kirsten said with the two teams almost evenly matched, the series promises to be nothing short of a cliffhanger.

"We know that Australians will be well prepared when they come and they would have done all the homework," he said.

But the coach insisted that India is well-prepared to meet the Aussie challenge.

"If one takes into account the statistics over the last 20 Test matches between India and Australia, it can be seen India has got the best record against Australia of all the Test-playing nations," he said.

Kirsten said the Indian team has got a "good idea" of what they want to do against the Australians and how to match them.

Kirsten said India is focusing on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the visiting side and indicated that Anil Kumble's team has its game-plan ready. "Obviously, we have identified the areas that we need to be playing against this Australian side...What are the areas where we can exploit ... What are their strengths ... What are our strengths," he said.

Kirsten said India has done a "lot of homework" vis-a-vis the Australian side and experimented with some of those game-plans in the five-day preparatory camp that concluded here today.

He said regardless of the conditions, the Indian team has got enough talent and experience to be able to win.