Australia to tackle Test tour of India with no warm-up matches

Golf simulators and private chefs will be on hand for the Australian Test team as they seek to win on Indian soil – but one key part of the preparation will be missing.

Australia will have a chef, a golf simulator but no tour match as part of a unique preparation to try and crack its Indian hoodoo.

Pat Cummins’ team will fly to Bengaluru next week for a specialised training camp after receiving a guarantee from the Indian Cricket Board that they will be prepare practice wickets for them which take raging turn.

Australia were sabotaged in Sri Lanka last year when they were served up seaming practice decks for a series played on spinning minefields – and CA high performance chiefs have gone to great lengths to make sure there’s no ducks and drakes being played when they arrive in India.

Cricket Australia will provide a personal chef and golf simulator for the tour of India.

No stone has been left unturned in Australia’s bid to storm cricket’s most intimidating fortress.

An Indian based chef has been hired to travel with the team and supervise the kitchens at hotels and grounds to avoid illness, and a golf simulator brought along to give the team’s golf-obsessed players a chance to relax and bond in a country where their movements are restricted.

But in the age of relentless cricketing schedules, Australia has made a bold decision to scrap the traditional pre-series warm-up match, preferring to concentrate on a more specialised preparation which they can control.

With the calendar jammed from all sides, CA has preferred on recent tours to focus on short and sharp lead-ups so as not to burn players out before a ball is bowled.

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Former Australian captain Michael Clarke believes Cummins’ team is capable of replicating the feats of the 2004 side he debuted in which won in India, but slammed the decision not to prepare with a tour match as “ridiculous.”

Australia will have three or four days intensive training on the Bengaluru Bunsen burners in a bid to tailor their games to the extreme spin that is notorious in Nagpur, venue for the first Test starting on February 9.

“We are really confident and comfortable with the preparations the BCCI has made for us,” Cricket Australia’s head of operations, Peter Roach said.

“The proof will be in the pudding obviously but we’re really comfortable with the discussions we’ve had. They see merit in seeing us prepare really well for a marquee Test series as we do when overseas teams come out here.”

Australia can expect to play on some raging turners in their tour of India. Picture here is Jason Krejza bowling in Nagpur in 2008.

Australia initially flirted with the idea of bringing over their own independent curator to make sure they arrived to practice wickets replicating the conditions they’ll experience in the Tests – but eventually put their faith in the BCCI that the spirit of goodwill will be extended.

Bengaluru will not host a Test match this series, but it’s a ground the Australians’ know well – with spin coach Daniel Vettori and head coach Andrew McDonald having tight connections and extensive experience in the Indian Premier League.

Clarke is stunned at the decision to try and win a 20-year drought in India without a tour game, aware of how challenging the conditions are.

“If they haven’t got a tour game it’s ridiculous,” Clarke said on The Big Sports Breakfast on Monday.

“They need to play a game in those conditions in preparation.

“Even if it’s a three-dayer and not first class. Bowlers need to bowl in those conditions. Batters need to bat under pressure in a game scenario.

“If they haven’t got a tour game, that would be ridiculous.

“Conditions are extremely different. You have to do a lot of batting over there (to adjust).”