India seek series win in Australia after 64 years

India are desperate to bury their unwanted tag of being poor travellers as they bid to win their first series in Australia starting on Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.The Indians, ranked second in Test cricket, two places above Australia, have failed to win a series Down Under in nine previous tours over 64 years but face a home team in the throes of a painful transition.India will be playing their first away Test series since losing all four matches in England in July-August in a whitewash that cost MS Dhoni’s men their number one ranking.India have developed an unwelcome reputation as poor travellers and a win in the four-Test series against Michael Clarke’s Australians represents a career-defining goal for many of the team’s ageing stars.Sachin Tendulkar, bidding for his 100th international century, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman are all unlikely to get the opportunity again in their cricket careers and are motivated to succeed.The Boxing Day Test is one for the purists with the rarity of Test cricket’s three greatest runscorers — Tendulkar (15,183), Dravid (13,094) and Australia’s Ricky Ponting (12,656) — all featuring in the same match.Dravid, turning 39 next month and padding up for his fourth series in Australia, has had one of his best years, scoring 1,067 runs and five centuries.“I wouldn’t have minded scoring five hundreds (fewer) or 1,000 runs less if we could win a series in Australia,” Dravid said.“The greatest memory for me now is not necessarily statistical. It’s not the number of runs, it’s those magical moments. The series wins in Tests stay with you.“I think that’s what you play for at this stage. I don’t have anything in terms of my own numbers or statistics that I want to achieve in Australia, but I want to win a Test series (here) and help the team win in Australia.“It is something that we have never done. So every time you tour here you want to get that goal. It’s not going to be easy, it never is, but I think the team’s goal is to try to win a series.”While India are top heavy with batting experience, it will come down to the ability of front-line bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to bowl out Australia for India to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they have held since 2008.Australian bowling legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have needled the Indians this week, saying India will struggle if Zaheer and Sharma are not fully fit for the gruelling series.But the Australians are nowhere near as formidable as they once were and this month crashed to a humiliating defeat to lowly New Zealand in Hobart.