Australia will look to win the Border Gavaskar trophy away from home for the first time since 2004 when they kick-off the four-Test tour in Nagpur on February 9, and a member of that victorious squad believes they are a good chance.
Brad Hodge, who will go down as one of Australia's unluckiest cricketers with only six Tests to his name despite an average of 55.88, and a first class average of 48.81 across 223 games where he scored over 17,000 runs, believes Australia can win this year in India.
"That was a pretty special team, one of the best that's ever taken the field for Australia," Hodge told AAP.
Asked to determine the difference between the current group and the 2004 side, he had a simple answer.
"Not a lot," he said. "They can do it, this current group, they just have to believe and have a little bit of luck.
"But it'll be a challenge, no doubt about it.
"Whenever you travel offshore, any Test you play is tough. But this is as tough as it gets."
Australia have had nothing but heartbreak in India since 2004, but did perform strongly last year when on tours of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, although the conditions do differ.
The Australians have selected a relatively well-rounded squad however, with Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith among the world's best players of spin, while Nathan Lyon has moved up the list of all-time wicket-takers.
Despite that, Hodge believes confidence in the spin bowling department could make all the difference.
"They've got complete confidence in their spin department," Hodge said.
"Australia is probably not as confident as where the Indian group are at. Other than that, the teams stack up fairly evenly.
"Our bowling is as good as anyone and our batting has been on fire all summer.
"We've got some very good players of spin and we'll be ultra-competitive. It's just whether we can last a full tour."
The first Test begins on February 9.
