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Opinion
If Australia are serious about conquering India for the first time in more than two decades on their next Test tour, planning needs to start yesterday.
Not necessarily with military precision but anything and everything that can be considered between now and January 2027 when the Aussies head back to India needs to be planned to the nth degree.
Australia have not won a Test series in India since 2004 after their 2-1 loss in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the fact that you have to go all the way back to 1969 for the previous triumph is proof that these struggles are endemic.
To put it further into context, the 19-year gap (which will grow to at least 23) is already greater than the drought that England experienced without touching the Ashes urn from 1987 to 2005 when they were ridiculed every couple of years for the pizzling they copped from teams led by Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh.
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That’s not quite an apples to apples comparison because Australia have beaten India at home three times since then – in 2007, 2011 and 2014 – but they have now lost the past four series, all coincidentally 2-1 results.
Rohit Sharma is stumped by Alex Carey. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
However, Michael Vaughan’s English side of 2005 is an example of the kind of planning that Australia need to undertake to overcome their hoodoo in India.
From the moment he was appointed captain two years earlier, he had been preparing the team for the arrival of the all-conquering Aussies.
He said he wanted his team to be one “that had a little bit of something about us”, to play attacking cricket and not fall into the trap of playing it safe against a team with all-time greats who had been long-time tormentors like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting.
Vaughan told his team to admire Australia but to stop talking them up all the time to demigod status and he discarded players who had been scarred by the Aussies in previous series like Graham Thorpe.
When the Australian brains trust of captain Pat Cummins, coach Andrew McDonald and chief selector George Bailey get a chance to review the recent series loss and discuss the ‘27 tour, they need a similar mindset.
It’s all but impossible to predict what the team will look like four years from now but natural attrition will mean several current stars will be long retired by then.
If you look at the XI that lined up in the fourth Test at Ahmedabad, plus Cummins, half of those players will be 35 over older by the time the next tour rolls around.
| Usman Khawaja | 40 |
| Travis Head | 33 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | 32 |
| Steve Smith | 37 |
| Peter Handscomb | 35 |
| Cameron Green | 27 |
| Alex Carey | 35 |
| Pat Cummins | 33 |
| Mitchell Starc | 37 |
| Nathan Lyon | 39 |
| Todd Murphy | 26 |
| Matt Kuhnemann | 30 |
The all-important spin department is suddenly looking well stocked following the emergence of Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann after they were thrown to the proverbial Indian fire in recent weeks.
Murphy finished as the fourth leading wicket-taker overall after snaring 14 scalps at 25.21 in his first four Tests while Kuhnemann, after being flown in late after the series opener, struck nine times in three outings, including his 5-16 on day one at Indore.
Mitchell Swepson, who was part of the tour but didn’t play, is also still young by spinner’s standards at 29 but wrist spin is not seen as effective on modern Indian wickets unless it’s of the Anil Kumble quick through the air variety.
Left-armer Ashton Agar is much more potent with white ball in hand and has likely played his last Test after being omitted and sent home early from India.
Nathan Lyon appeals unsuccessfully for the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Lyon will be 39 by the time the 2027 tour rolls around – don’t count him out just yet. If Jimmy Anderson can still be sending down seamers at 40 there’s no reason why Lyon couldn’t keep going until a similar age, particularly as he does not play for Australia in the white-ball formats.
Pace bowling is not irrelevant in India and Cummins should be going strong at 33 for the next tour although he may not still be captain due to his taxing workload.
With all-rounder Cameron Green only going to get better over the next four years, a scenario where he plays as the sole seamer and Australia go into a Test with another three or even four frontline spinners is not out of the question.
It’s hard to see Alex Carey, at 35, still being the wicketkeeper in India next time around – his glovework was superb but unless he adopts a better game plan to counter the spin with the bat, his prospects are bleak.
With the batting, Green and Marnus Labuschagne are as close as you can be to locks while Travis Head, whether as an opener or in the middle order, would be better a second time around after showing over the past month that he can survive and thrive on spinning wickets.
It would be great to see Will Pucovski make a fist of Test cricket in the next year or two so he can fulfil the undoubted potential he possesses but he has bigger battles to overcome before that can hopefully happen.
Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Theories on how long Steve Smith continues in the international arena vary from he could retire in the very near future to him being one of those players who can excel until the end of their 30s like Sachin Tendulkar or Steve Waugh.
One area that would undoubtedly help with future preparations would be Australia A tours two years leading up to the next tour.
They are invaluable in getting players adjusted to the foreign conditions so that they’re not confronting the chaos of India off the field and the unique elements on the field for the first time in a Test.
The 2027 tour is part of what will be an unprecedented summer for Australia – they are due to play three Tests at home against New Zealand in the traditional December/New Year’s window before then getting on the plane to India for a January/February five-match series.
Fixtures are a long way away from being locked in but sideshows like the BBL need to be shunned this time around in favour of Test preparation.
Andrew Flintoff (right) of England consoles Brett Lee during the 2005 Ashes. (Photo by Tom Jenkins/Getty Images).
There is unlikely to be first-class matches against Indian provincial opposition because the standard of players chosen will be poor and they’ll more than likely bowl little spin on a pitch which bears little resemblance to the Test strips.
But what’s to stop Australia from hiring a ground, getting over there a couple of weeks early and having their own intra-squad warm-up matches. There were 18 players chosen on this tour – you only need another half-dozen fringe Sheffield Shield players to head over for a couple of weeks to make up the numbers and the Test squad could get in quality preparation in match-like conditions.
Surely that would be better than scarifying a pitch in North Sydney to try to mimic an Indian surface or spending a week in camp after arriving in India pounding away in the nets or with centre-wicket practice.
The ICC’s Future Tours Programme contains only one Test tour between now and then on spinning decks – a two-match trip to Sri Lanka at the start of 2025.
Todd Murphy celebrates taking the wicket of Virat Kohli. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
There are a couple of tours scheduled for Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2026 but only for white-ball fixtures.
And of course the other hurdle for Australia to overcome before they set foot on Indian soil again for a Test is the not so small matter of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series Down Under at the end of next year.
Thankfully the Australian contest has also expanded to a five-Test series but if the baggy green brigade can’t wrest back the trophy on home turf, their chances of finally ending their drought in India will be next to none.
There is plenty of time in the interim but none to waste.