MUMBAI, Sept 16: India’s cricket encounters with Australia are so closely fought that they are challenging the Ashes for prominence back home, retired Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist said on Tuesday.

Ricky Ponting’s 15-man Australian squad is due to arrive in India on Sunday for a highly-anticipated four-Test series that Gilchrist hopes will live up to expectations.

“There’s no doubt the upcoming series is yet again shaping up to be a fantastic series between Australia and India,” Gilchrist, who retired earlier this year, told reporters here.

“It seems like every time the two nations have locked horns in the last 10 to 12 years, it’s lived up to what I think has become an iconic series.

“In Australia, everyone knows the focus historically has been the Ashes (against England), but this has grown its own iconic status,” he added.

Gilchrist, in India to promote an Australian university, said he expected the tour, which begins with the first Test in Bangalore on Oct 9, to be hard-fought in conditions traditionally favourable to spin.—AFP