Doubts surround the quality of both batting line-ups ahead of this Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, but runs might not be the only winning currency from a batting perspective.
Marnus Labuschagne knows that better than most. He was the leading run-scorer across sides in the 2020-21 series in Australia, but his team didn't win. There was a man who made 155 runs fewer than Labuschagne across eight innings but faced 78 more deliveries and was arguably the most valuable player in India's famous win.
Just as he did in 2018-19, when he made three centuries and faced 1258 balls in seven innings, Cheteshwar Pujara's ability to absorb pressure for long periods and grind an unchanged Australian bowling line-up into the ground over a four-Test series paid handsome dividends on the final day at the Gabba, when they finally ran out of steam.
Labuschagne is looking at this five-Test series through that same lens, with an aim to ask a relatively inexperienced India seam attack, Jasprit Bumrah aside, to keep backing up over a six-week tour.
"It's going to be important for all of us," Labuschagne said on Tuesday. "I think the way we play, we're at our best when we're playing the long game. We understand that getting them back for their second and third spells, putting them under pressure and letting them come to us and us putting pressure back on them through overs in the field and time in the game, especially over a five-Test series, that's really important.
"Because as you get into the third, fourth, fifth Test, if they're trying to play the same team, and those bowlers are rolling into 100, 150, 200 overs by the third Test, it's going to make a big difference in the series."
The question will be whether this Australian top order can execute that plan to set the game up for their explosive middle-order. Batting was extremely challenging in Australia last summer. Just two players managed to score centuries in five home Tests and one of them, David Warner, is no longer in the team. The only player to score a century in Australia's most recent series in New Zealand, Cameron Green, is also not available for this series.
There will be plenty of attention on Labuschagne. He made 90 in his last Test match in Christchurch. But that 90 came after five scores of 10 or below. He also fell for 6 in the second innings in Christchurch.
Labuschagne's form at the start of this summer has been far from prolific. He made a sublime 77 not out in his first ODI in England in September, but then returned scores 19, 0, 4, 16 and 6 in ODI cricket. In the midst of those scores he made 77 and 35 not out in his first Sheffield Shield game at the WACA ground in October and then followed that with returns of 11, 22 and 10 for Queensland.
There has been a familiarity to his dismissals in recent times. Having overcome a period in international cricket where teams were attacking his front pad, suddenly he has found himself being opened up outside off stump and nicking balls he has not played at in the past. He's aware of how India will attack him in Perth.
"I think there might be areas that they'll attack first this time around, bowling that channel and try and nick you off," Labuschagne said. "I think especially in Perth, with the bouncy wicket."
Perth Stadium is a place Labuschagne loves. He has an extraordinary record there in just three Test matches, scoring three centuries and averaging 103.80. He loves it because it plays so similarly to his home ground of the Gabba. And the hallmark of his success in Perth has been his ability to leave well early on. He has trusted the bounce and made the bowlers bowl at him, using the pace and bounce to his advantage.
It is those things, he noted, that he has perhaps strayed away from in the past 18 months. "I think for me, probably just getting away from the process of what makes me a good player, and just making sure I stay consistent to that process and really trusting the system."
His batting is not the only area where he will relish Perth's pace and bounce. Eyebrows have been raised within Australia's camp about the amount of medium-pace bowling he had done in the early part of the Shield season while captaining Queensland.
There was much ribbing from the coaching staff and team-mates at the start of the ODI series when he immediately returned to bowling legspin in the nets, with captain Pat Cummins stating he much preferred Labuschagne's legbreaks to his medium pace.
But Labuschagne had no hesitation steaming in off the long run at the WACA centre wicket on Monday and delivering a bouncer barrage to Cummins and Mitchell Starc. He wants to dish more out in the Test match in the absence of Green.
"I bowled one bouncer and I think Mitchell Starc said, 'We've got short memories'. And I said, 'Well, I'm going to get them anyway, so I might as well dish them out'," Labuschagne said. "There's nothing more enjoyable than bowling bouncers. I love it.
"There was a bit worry. When I bowled I think about 28 overs of pace in a Shield game, and my workloads were zero before then, so some would say that's a big spike. But my body's pretty durable.
"It's something that I've done from a young age. I've always bowled pace."