Australia will not play a warm-up match on next year’s mammoth tour of India, but coach Andrew McDonald indicated some players’ subcontinental immersion will begin even before the home Test season concludes.
While tour games against local opposition have been confirmed for upcoming overseas trips to South Africa and England, Australia are instead exploring venues for a pre-series camp to steel themselves for their longest tour of India in half a century.
It is in keeping with how they have tuned up for their last two Test tours to Asia under McDonald’s leadership. They went to Dubai last year to prepare for their two Tests in Sri Lanka and underwent a similar camp in Alur on the outskirts of Bengaluru prior to their 2023 campaign in India.
But Australia’s preparations for their five Tests in India beginning January 21 will be even more condensed than previous subcontinental tours. Their Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener in Nagpur begins less than a fortnight after the New Year’s Test against New Zealand is scheduled to conclude.
McDonald suggested players flagged for the tour, but who are not in plans to play in home Tests against the Kiwis, will turn their attention to India possibly at the expense of featuring in some Big Bash League games. Practicing on scarified home pitches designed to replicate turning Indian surfaces, like several players did at North Sydney Oval ahead of the 2023 India tour, is another option.
Matthew Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy, Cooper Connolly, Peter Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw project as players who are currently not in immediate contention for selection in home Tests but will be in calculations to play in India. There is of course plenty of time for circumstances to shift for all those players given the Aussies play nine Tests before heading to India.
Speaking to cricket.com.au about the 2027 India tour preparations, McDonald said: “We feel as though we’ve got enough time to immerse ourselves in those conditions. We won’t be taking on a practice game. It’ll just be more around the location.
“We’ve got a couple of options there. We have gone to the UAE previously and we have also gone into India last time into Bangalore, so we’re just working through what that would look like in terms of how we then manage the individuals.
“A lot of that would happen on the back of the four Tests against New Zealand, seeing where players are at. We’ll potentially have some different players with different skill sets that we believe can perform in India, so it won’t necessarily be the squad that finishes the Test series (against NZ that then heads to India).
“There’ll be some players that we need to put a little bit more prep into, and that’ll start in Australia also, balancing out Big Bash commitments and things like that.
“Ultimately, if you can have a dedicated venue that you’re able to use and replicate as close to the conditions that you believe you may get in the first Test match or throughout a Test series, that’s ideally what you want.
“You case those locations – you want a connection in terms of conditions and climate. We believe we’ll get that right in terms of where we go, it just hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
While the ICC Academy in Dubai has proved an ideal base in the past – Australia also went there in 2018 ahead of a series against Pakistan – the uncertain security situation in the UAE is a complicating factor.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is currently advising Australians to “reconsider your need to travel” due to conflict in the Middle East. An England Lions squad coached by Andrew Flintoff was forced to cancel a series in Abu Dhabi mid-trip earlier this year after missile strikes in the region impacted commercial air travel.
Either way, McDonald and co. can hardly be accused of not adequately considering how best to equip themselves for India, where no Australian team has won a Test series since 2004.
George Bailey last month flagged that fringe Test players could be pulled from ODI series in Africa in September to instead feature on an overlapping Australia A tour of India, the second reserve tour there in as many years.
While Australia have preferred match simulations and intra-squad practice over fully-fledged tour games to prepare for overseas Test tours, they will play warm-up games ahead of the three-Test series in South Africa in October and then before next year’s Ashes tour.
The fixture against England Lions before the 2027 England series has an asterisk next to it pending Australia’s involvement in the World Test Championship final. But if his team does not qualify for a third consecutive decider, McDonald believes the Old Trafford match will be valuable for a side that will have players coming from different parts of the world.
“We don’t always take the opportunity to play warm-up games or first-class games on the entry, and that’s probably because we haven’t traditionally had the space and time, and also we’ve had an experienced group,” he said.
“Some players are going to be coming out of IPL, some players are going to be coming out of April, May in Australia preparing back here, some might be in county cricket, so we’re going to have players at all different stages of prep.
“Our intention is that we qualify for the World Test Championship final, but there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge there. To have that game available to finish off the prep for players, if we weren’t to make the WTC final, would be important.
“We’re not against practice games as long as they can fit in. That’s always the hard part with a schedule that that does get compressed.
“We feel like a game on a Test venue against a quality opponent potentially is the best thing for that (UK) tour.”
Inglis available for Darwin Test
McDonald meanwhile insisted Josh Inglis should be available for selection for next week’s first Test against Bangladesh in Darwin after he suffered back spasms in an intra-squad match in Brisbane this week.
Cameron Green hit three sixes on Tuesday and spent 101 balls at the crease facing Test squad bowlers Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Beau Webster at Allan Border Field. Lyon continued his promising return from hamstring surgery by having Travis Head stumped after a typically brisk opening knock.
Jake Weatherald partnered Head at the top of the order in a strong sign that pair will continue their union against Bangladesh, with the junior opener retiring after hitting a quick-fire 40.
On Inglis, McDonald said: “He’s had a back flare up. He has had these from time to time. There’ll be no issue, it’ll just be letting it settle down and then getting him back into work.
“We’ve got enough time. We’ll probably be conservative on that, make sure that’s right before you see him return into the nets and the preparation phase … there is no concern around whether he would be available or not.”
McDonald suggested this week’s intra-squad matches have been the culmination of more than a month of hybrid preparations where players have travelled between sunny Brisbane and their home ports around the country.
“We’ve had two decent hit-outs, 60 overs a day, everyone’s been able to meet the demands,” he said.
“We’ve been able to create a connection from training, build up that intensity with the match simulation, it almost took on the shape of a fully-fledged game, which was nice.
“It’s a group that’s keen to get back into it and we’ve got a couple more days on Thursday and Friday to finish off that preparation. The guys have been doing a lot of work coming back and forth to Brisbane.”
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2027
First Test: January 21-25, VCA Stadium, Nagpur, 3pm AEDT
Second Test: January 29-February 2, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 3pm AEDT
Third Test: February 11-15, ACA Stadium, Guwahati, 3pm AEDT
Fourth Test: February 19-23, JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi, 3pm AEDT
Fifth Test: February 27-March 3, Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT
