Australia are set to continue with their policy of not playing any tour matches ahead of an away Test series when they arrive in India in February. Australia tour India for the first time since 2017 for a four-match Test series. They had not played any tour game ahead of their series in Pakistan in late March last year went on to win 1-0.
Head coach Andrew McDonald has said that they are instead looking to be creative in the creative in their own conditions to prepare for what they will encounter in India.
“No tour game is something we’ve done in the last few series, before embarking on overseas tours,” he was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
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“We feel as though we don’t need that match practice as such. We’re going to go to India about a week out from the first game. We didn’t want to press for too much longer, in terms of the preparation.”
Australia batters had prepared on scarified pitches during a camp in Melbourne and arrived just a week before they arrived in Rawalpindi for their tour of Pakistan last year. The focus would be on preserving mental and physical freshness rather than arriving much early to play a warm-up game and acclimatise to the conditions, said McDonald.
“We feel as though seven days is ample time to get ready and to make sure we maintain freshness throughout the whole four Test match series,” McDonald said. We had some success doing that, going to Pakistan. We had a shortened period on the ground there.”
“We can be creative in our own conditions. We’ve done it before with the Pakistan build-up in Melbourne. Dusting up wickets. Fit for purpose. Working with the local groundsmen who really help us in and around the country. We feel as though we can get as close to that as possible without necessarily having a practice game.”
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