We are hoping to do well in Australia: Dhoni

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni reckons the experience of playing in Australian conditions in the past will benefit the team in the upcoming four-match Test series, starting on Boxing day. 

"Most of the batsmen have played there before. We are hoping we will do well there.

"Even last time (in the 2007-08 series) we had a very good chance and we did really perform well," Dhoni said.

Dhoni was however not ready to believe that the current Australian team can be easily tamed just because of the retirements of some big names, and added that India needed to play to their potential to win the series. 

"It is not that if the opposition is not doing well, it will be a best chance for us.

"We have to play to the level of the kind of talent that we have got and not worry about such things," he said on the eve of India's warm-up match against Chairman's XI.

The India skipper believed that a lot will depend on how they prepare over the next few days in the run-up to the first Test.

"It depends on how we prepare ourselves during the 12 days before the Test match and how we adapt to the conditions," Dhoni waqs quoted as saying by The Age.

With Australia going through a transitional phase, this tour is perceived by many as India's best chance to win a series Down Under.

"Some people think that the last Australian team was much better than the current Australian side. Some of the present players were not part of the 2008 side. To judge them is quite a difficult task. Anil Kumble was part of our side (in 2008). 

"The spinners coming into the team now are not as experienced as Anil. It applies to the Australian team also. They had big players like Adam Gilchrist and others," Dhoni said.