Cricket is Life: Ponting hopes to change horror script in India

Ponting, who averages 54.66 overall, has rarely tasted success in India during his illustrious career. He has scored 438 runs in 12 Tests in India with just one century, averaging 20.85.

"It's a place that I've never mastered. I've never mastered batting in these conditions," the Australian skipper told reporters on Thursday.

"I felt that in the last series over here (in 2008), I took some really big strides in becoming a better player on the subcontinent. My first hundred in Bangalore at the start of the series was satisfying.

"I made 80-odd in Delhi. There were some positive signs for me last time and learning a bit more about the conditions and the Indian bowlers gives me a chance to hopefully have a good series."

Ponting said his team were keen to seize the early initiative as it would not be easy to bounce back into the short series.

"You don't want to be going behind in a two-Test series, that's for sure. It's hard to work your way back into it from there," he said.

"Generally, we are very good starters as well. Our record starting a Test series is very good. That's one area we can focus on a little bit more, making sure that we start the game well."

Ponting said it was always a huge challenge to play India in India, but was not sure if the rivalry was bigger than the Ashes against England.

"We'd love to come here and win. We know how big the challenge is. We also know just how competitive a series it was over here last time," he said.

"I'm not sure if it's bigger than the Ashes. If you look at international cricket at the moment, Australia has three major rivals. We have England and there's always an added edge whenever we play an Ashes series.

"Then you have South Africa and our rivalry against them has been very strong. And there's India, who we've had some amazing battles with over the past five or six years.

"I would still put the Ashes slightly above the other two."

Ponting is the world's second-highest scorer in Tests with 12,026 runs after India's Sachin Tendulkar (13,837). The Indian also holds the record of maximum centuries (48) in Tests, followed by Ponting (39).

"There's inspiration for everyone around the world to take from what he (Tendulkar) has done over the last 12 months. He's made six Test hundreds in that time and he's 37," said Ponting.

The second and final Test starts in Bangalore on October 9.