Don't Miss

India's CWG 2026 Medal Tally Lowest In 24 Years, Yet Among The Best

Tactical Self-Destruction: How England Threw Away Their World Cup Final Dream

Bundesliga Blueprint: How Zee Plans To Complete India's Football Jigsaw

Manuel Neuer Doesn't Know Where To Stop: Not On The Pitch, Not In His Career

Advertisement

ENG

Login

Dark / Light mode

Oct 9,2026 08:26 PM IST

Australia Coach Rules Out Practice Games Before Next Year's India Tests

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

Settings

Select Language

Dark / Light mode

Search

Cricket

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

India Matches

EPL

Sports Home Cricket News Australia Coach Rules Out Practice Games Before Next Years India Tests

Related Articles

Story ProgressBack to home

Australia Coach Rules Out Practice Games Before Next Year's India Tests

During their 2023 tour of India, the Aussies had held a camp in Alur near Bengaluru to prepare for the series.

Read Time: 2 min

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

reddit

E-mail

Australia coach Andrew McDonald on India tour© AFP

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has revealed that his team will not play any practice match before its high-profile Border Gavaskar Trophy away Test series against India next year as a short preparatory camp in conditions similar to the sub-continent would be more useful. The much-anticipated five-Test series is scheduled to start on January 21 in Nagpur.

"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," McDonald told 'cricket.com.au.' "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." The Australians will, however, play tour games against local sides during upcoming assignments against South Africa and England.

The series against India would last for over a month with games spread across Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, and Ranchi before the finale in Ahmedabad.

During their 2023 tour of India, the Aussies had held a camp in Alur near Bengaluru to prepare for the series.

"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," he said.

"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." McDonald said players shortlisted for the India series but not in contention for the preceding home rubber against New zealand would be expected to prepare for the tour instead of playing in the Big Bash at that time.

Matthew Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy, Cooper Connolly, Peter Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw are some of the names in contention to play in India, according to the report.

"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," he said.

Australian haver not won a Test series in India since 2004-05 season.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Spain's Royal Family Welcomes World Cup Champions To Zarzuela Palace

Topics mentioned in this article

India India Cricket Team Australia Australia Cricket Team Cricket

Get the Latest Cricket, Asian Games 2026, Football , Hockey, Badminton Scores, F1 Results at NDTV Sports. Like Us On Facebook Or Follow Us On Twitter For More Sports Updates. You Can Also Download The NDTV Cricket App For Android Or iOS.

Advertisement

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Advertisement

ICC Rankings

Advertisement

Now Trending

Advertisement

Trending Links

Follow us on:

facebook

twitter

Cricket

Football

More Sports

Formula 1 Tennis Hockey Badminton Golf Nba Kabaddi Shooting Swimming Table Tennis

This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics © Copyright NDTV Convergence Limited 2026. All rights reserved.