India's chances hinge on bowlers' fitness: Warne

Australian spin legend believes India's chances of upstaging Michael Clarke's men in their own backyard in the upcoming four-Test series will largely depend on the fitness of their pace bowlers – Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan.

- Images: Warne statue unveiled at the MCG

Both Zaheer and Ishant are injury-prone and it would be quite a challenge for them to remain fit in what is expected to be a gruelling series starting December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"India has a quality team, as they've been showing in recent times. In Test cricket we've seen them, against West Indies, do well.

"But before that they played England in England and got beaten 4-0 with a swinging ball and a good English seam attack. Their batsmen will do pretty well," Warne said after the unveiling of his bronze statue outside the MCG.

"Their bowlers will have to stay fit. If Zaheer Khan or Ishant Sharma get injured, then I think their bowling attack could be quite weak. The Australian batsmen could perform pretty well. I think it's going to come down to how India are going to take 20 wickets with their bowling," he added.

Warne said he expected Indian batsmen to do well in the series.

"I think their batters, especially Rahul Dravid, will make big runs. He's a quality person, he's a quality act, he's a quality player. Hopefully Sachin (Tendulkar) will get his hundredth hundred here. It would be a great time to do it here at the MCG in front of 70 or 80,000," he said.