ADELAIDE (Australia) Nov 22: Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly said on Saturday his team’s recent poor performance against Australia — four consecutive one-day losses — will give the hosts a mental edge over India in its four-Test series.

Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said after his side’s tri-series final win in India on Tuesday that his players had a psychological hold over the Indians.

Ganguly, who arrived with his teammates in Adelaide on Saturday, agreed the Indians had a mental barrier to overcome.

“Yes, honestly we’ve lost to them four times now in the last two months in one-day cricket and we accept that they’re a good side and they’re playing good cricket,” he said.

“That’s why it’s more of a challenge to raise our game and perform at par with them in Australia. We know they are going to be a tough side at home, they win overseas as well and them playing at home will be even tougher.”

He said he doubted his side’s inexperienced pace bowling attack will struggle on the bouncy Australian pitches.

India’s most experienced bowlers will be Zaheer Khan (26 Tests) and Ashish Nehra (13 Tests), but Ganguly said both players had proved their ability at international level.

“They were inexperienced in the World Cup and to be honest they were on par with the best in the world, if you go through the records,” he said.—APP/AP