Australia last toured India in 2016-17 in a losing effort that ended 2-1 in favour of the hosts. Steve Smith was the captain of that side, and he has now revealed that the experience on that tour is why Australia will not be partaking in a tour match before the series begins on February 9th.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph at Sydney airport, Smith revealed their tour match in 2016 didn't offer much to his side, saying they were presented with a “green top” and not a pitch that would prepare them for the spinning conditions.
“We normally have two tour games over in England. This time we don't have a tour game in India,” Smith said.
“The last time we went I'm pretty sure we got served up a green top (to practise on) and it was sort of irrelevant.
“Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it's likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in.
“We'll wait and see when we hit the ground. I think we've made the right decision to not play a tour match.
“Like I said, last time they dished up a green top for us and we barely faced any spin, so it's kind of irrelevant.
“We're better off having our own nets and getting spinners in and bowling as much as they can.”
The squad was out in Sydney last week practising on pitches that had been curated to mimic Indian conditions as best as possible, and coach Andrew McDonald thinks that will do the trick.
“We feel as though out there the surfaces we got are very similar to what we're going to confront in India which is very difficult to replicate, but we feel as though we've got close to that,” McDonald told the Telegraph.
“Often (there's) no real connection between that practice game into the first Test match. We feel as though we can control the surfaces here … and hopefully it pays dividends at the back end.”
It remains to be seen how the lack of a tour matches will affect the Australian side when the series begins next week, especially since the makeup of the team is still unknown, with no confirmed replacement for Cameron Green nor knowledge of who will be the second spinner if there is one.
It is known that Australia has only played India in one Test ever at the first venue, the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, so they'll be hoping that Sydney's pitch matches this one as best it could.
