KUWAIT CITY: Smarting from their defeat against Iraq, India will face a tougher challenge when they play heavyweights Australia in the the AFC U-20 Championship Group H qualifiers here on Sunday.
India squandered a 2-1 half-time lead to go down 2-4 to Iraq in their opening fixture.
"We saw Australia's match against Kuwait last night, and they are of course a very good team. They are the favourites to top the group, and we will have to be at our best against them," said head coach Shanmugam Venkatesh.
India will heavily rely on their in-form duo of Gurkirat Singh and Taison Singh. Gurkirat scored once and set up another in their defeat against Iraq.
"That being said, if we stick together as a team and put in the hard yards, we can come out with the result against them too," Venkatesh added.
Australia kicked off their campaign defeating hosts Kuwait 4-1 and lead the table along with Iraq.
India and Kuwait occupy the third and fourth places respectively.
"The boys put up a good performance in the match, and I was quite happy with the way they fought till the very end," said Venkatesh.
