When India’s Test cricketers last found themselves on Australian shores, they were departing having secured arguably the most impressive series win in the nation’s rich cricketing history.

The series win in the summer of 2020-21 was not India’s first on Australian soil, that came in the summer of 2018-19.

However, there was no hiding the fact that the 2018-19 series win came against a depleted Aussie side missing David Warner and Steve Smith due to their ball tampering suspensions. 

If there were any lingering doubts about the quality of India’s Test side, they were sensationally dispelled with a 2-1 series win which was sealed with an undermanned line-up doing what was previously thought to be nigh on impossible — beating Australia in a Test match at the Gabba. 

It has been a decade since Australia last won a series against India, and all four Test series that have followed the triumph from the summer of 2014-15 have ended with the same result, India winning a four-Test series 2-1 with one draw sprinkled in there. 

Four summers on from that historic triumph, India arrives Down Under with more questions than answers as it prepares to take on perhaps its greatest foe yet again. 

The last dance for several mainstays of the rivalry

The last decade of clashes between Australia and India have featured a rotating set of main characters who have each enjoyed their separate moments in the sun over the years.

Australia’s transition began last summer when David Warner played his last Test match, and his departure has left a gaping hole in the top order that is yet to be filled.

When Australia last beat India in a Test series, that series began with an all-time great Test in Adelaide which saw India fall 48 runs short of chasing 364 for a famous victory.

Two of the main protagonists from each side on that iconic day five at the Adelaide Oval still remain in action.

Virat Kohli arrived in Australia in 2014 leading India against its old foe for the first time, and led from the front with a pair of centuries.

Kohli’s 141 off 175 deliveries in India’s fourth-innings run chase remains one of his finest centuries away from home. It was one of four centuries he scored on the tour in a losing effort. 

The Indian skipper’s effort that day was ended by Nathan Lyon, who spun Australia to victory with a seven-wicket haul including the prized scalps of Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. 

Lyon, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh remain the only members of the Australian side from that Test that will feature this summer.

Only Kohli and Sharma remain active from India’s XI a decade ago. 

Kohli and Smith have been virtually neck and neck as Test cricketers over the last decade, with both men having careers that are eerily similar. 

Smith was named the Player of the Series in Australia’s 2-0 win in the summer of 2014-15, and was only at the very beginning of a frightening ascent that saw him stack together a remarkable 21 Test centuries in four calendar years between 2014 and 2017. In the same period, Kohli scored 15 centuries of his own in the longest format.

Both men are a part of Test cricket’s famed batting ‘Fab Four’ which features New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and England’s Joe Root, but both have showed signs of a noticeable decline over the last three years. 

While Root has scored 18 Test centuries at an average of almost 57 since the start of 2021, Smith has managed just six at an average of 47. Kohli’s form line in that same period is alarming, having scored just two centuries at an average of 33.11. 

The former captains still look the part. Their arrivals at the crease are eagerly anticipated by both their opponents as well as fans from both sides. Smith’s fidgeting at the crease remains iconic and Kohli still has the swagger that few batters in the game possess. However, their form suggests they are not the same players anymore. 

Father Time simply waits for no one, not even if you’re a colossus such as Smith or Kohli. In his prime, Smith was known for his impeccable judgement outside his off stump. Now, with his reflexes not as sharp as they once were, that same area has become problematic. 

At his pomp, Kohli was a wizard against spin, dancing down the track at will or whipping balls from outside off stump through the leg side with his incredible wrist work. He now comes to Australia having managed just 93 runs in six home Test innings against New Zealand where Ajaz Patel caused him nightmares, with four of the six knocks yielding a combined two runs. Imagine reading that sentence out to someone six years ago. 

There will be some significant soul-searching for India after being swept at home by the Black Caps, who were without Williamson. 

India’s decade of dominance at home came on the back of four stalwarts — Kohli, Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. 

If Kohli and Sharma didn’t plunder you into submission with the bat, Jadeja and Ashwin would strangle you with the ball. It was a tried and tested formula that yielded series win after series win, particularly on home soil. 

India would have expected to stroll into Australia with a comfortable series win under its belt, but now arrives with a host of questions around their superstars who suddenly look well past it. 

Sharma may potentially be sidelined for personal reasons to start the series, and it may actually be a blessing in disguise for India, given his paltry record on Australian soil.

The Indian captain has not scored more than 63 in 14 innings down under, and averages just 31.38. 

Sharma has been a white ball colossus, perhaps the best of his generation alongside Kohli in the shorter formats, but he has struggled mightily in the long form since taking the reins from Kohli in 2022. In 21 Tests as skipper, Sharma has scored just four centuries at an average of 33.97. In comparison, he averages 46.87 in Tests where he has not had the burden of captaincy, scoring eight centuries. 

Much like Kohli, Sharma still appears to be the same imposing figure at the top of the order that lays waste to bowling attacks, but his numbers say otherwise, at least at the Test level. At some point, that aura simply disappears as the paltry scores begin to tally up.

If Smith is to Australia what Kohli is to India, then Ashwin is to India what Lyon is to Australia. 

The Test wicket tallies of both finger spinners have been virtually tied over the last decade. Ashwin heads to Australia with 536 wickets in 105 Tests, while Lyon has 530 in 129 Tests. Whoever has a better series will go a large way towards deciding the winner.

Ashwin somewhat unfairly earned a reputation of being a home track bully earlier on in his career, but has taken his talents on the road with increasing regularity in the back half of his career. His record of 149 wickets at an average of 30.40 in 39 Tests is similar to Lyon’s away from Australia (251 wickets at an average of 28.63 in 57 Tests).

The 38-year-old has 114 wickets in 22 Tests against Australia, but has just 39 in 10 Tests at an average of 42.15 in Australia. The numbers in Australia are somewhat deceiving though, with that average bloated by paltry returns in Australia early on in his career. Ashwin has been as effective as any travelling spinner in India’s last two Test tours in Australia, picking up 18 wickets at an average of 27.50.

Ashwin’s 2024 year makes for interesting reading. All 10 of his Test appearances have come at home, and while he has picked up 46 wickets, they have come at an average of 26.69, well below his career mark of 21.57 at home. 

In the sweep against New Zealand, Ashwin was strangely toothless, failing to pick up more than three wickets in an innings. There were no extended spells where he ripped the heart out of the opposition as he has done countless times over the last decade. 

While Ashwin has been an excellent servant for Indian cricket since making his international debut in 2010, a player of his age cannot afford too many more lean spells. It would be a surprise if he plays all five Tests against Australia. 

Jadeja, like Kohli, will be 36 years old this summer. 

If you haven’t followed Indian cricket closely, you’ll probably have missed the fact that Jadeja has quietly become one of the greatest all-rounders Test cricket has ever seen. 

Since he scored his first Test century in 2017, Jadeja has added just three more, but has provided numerous priceless runs in the lower half of India’s batting line-up. His numbers of 2,387 runs at an average of 39.78 over the last seven years would be fit for a top order player in most Test-playing nations around the world. In that same time period, the left-armer has picked up 208 wickets in 52 Tests at an average of 23.59. 

He was invaluable in India’s last two tours to Australia, picking up 14 wickets at an average of 21.78 while scoring 175 runs at an average of over 43. Players who produce those kinds of numbers simply do not grow on trees. 

Despite his overall excellence, Jadeja has struggled to make a consistent impact with the ball away from India. He has just two five-wicket hauls in 26 Tests outside of India, and has not picked up five wickets in an innings away from home since doing so against Sri Lanka in 2017. 

Like Ashwin, Jadeja too was worryingly quiet against New Zealand before picking up a pair of five-wicket hauls on a rank turner in Mumbai in the final match of the series. India will hope he can carry that momentum into Australia. 

The time is running out on India’s star quartet’s reign of dominance. Can they produce one last hurrah to seal a hat-trick of wins on Australian soil before sailing off into the sunset? 

Pressure on new crop of stars to take over

Last time India were Down Under for a Test series, it was dashing wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant who hit the winning runs to secure a famous win at the Gabba. 

Pant’s unbeaten 89 was his second straight fourth innings masterpiece of the series after his 97 had allowed India to scrape out a draw in the third Test of the series in Sydney. 

Pant was a fresh-faced, brash 21-year-old when he first toured Australia with India in the summer of 2018, capturing the hearts of Australian fans with his trash talk behind the stumps, namely to then-Australian skipper Tim Paine, who he hilariously referred to as the “temporary captain”. 

Paine then returned serve and suggested Pant could babysit his children after MS Dhoni was recalled for the one day series that followed the Tests. It was all brilliant theatre.  

However, as the two summers developed, Pant slowly went from being a nuisance from an Australian perspective to becoming one of India’s most important players.

Pant has played seven Tests against Australia, all away from home, and has smacked 624 runs at an average of 62.4 and a strike rate of 72.13. It is hard to believe that he only has one century so far, an unbeaten 159 in Sydney that came in 2019. 

He is one of the rare Indian cricketers to have played more Tests abroad than at home, and four of his six Test centuries have come in foreign conditions. Along with his century against Australia at the SCG, Pant has centuries in both England and South Africa, signs that his swashbuckling batting game travels well. 

The Indian star was seemingly on the cusp of truly becoming Test cricket’s next Adam Gilchrist after scoring 680 runs at an average of 61.81 and a strike rate of 90.90 in 2022 when his career and life were both halted due to a near-fatal car crash in December of that year. 

After being sidelined for all of 2023, Pant has made his return to India’s red ball side and is back doing what Rishabh Pant does. We are all blessed to see him back in action. 

He was one of the few Indian batters to give a good account of himself in the home sweep to New Zealand and once again looms as a gamebreaker against Australia. 

While contributions from Pant may have been seen as bonuses in his last two trips to Australia, he arrives this time with the batting line-up needing him to score and score big. 

India’s series win in the summer of 2020-21 also saw them unearth another young batting star — Shubman Gill.

Gill was ushered into the Indian side after the disastrous and now-infamous 36 all out episode during the Adelaide Test of that series, and was excellent, scoring 259 runs at an average of 51.80 partnering Sharma at the top of India’s order in the final three matches. 

Interestingly, Gill’s career thus far has been eerily similar to that of his captain’s. 

Gill showed promise as a solid Test opener in that debut series against Australia, but has failed to kick on in the longest format of the game. He has five Test centuries but averages just 36.73, well below par for a player of his class. 

In the meantime, he has become one of the world’s most destructive batters in one day cricket, where he has averaged 58.20 at a strike rate of 101.74 in 47 matches for India.

India will hope that Gill’s white ball success eventually translates over to the Test arena, just as Sharma’s has in the back half of his career. Ideally for the tourists, it happens on this tour where his contributions will be vital against Australia’s vaunted pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

While Gill opened in his last two series’ against Australia, he now bats at number three due to the arrival of one of Indian cricket’s great batting phenoms — Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

At just 22 years of age, Jaiswal has become an absolute monster in his short Test career, averaging 56.28 in 14 Tests so far. 

After making his debut with 171 against the West Indies in July 2023, Jaiswal has continued his dominance this year in his first full calendar year as a Test cricketer.

He laid waste to England’s bowlers when BazBall arrived on Indian shores earlier this year, smacking 712 runs at an average of 89 in the five-Test series the Indians won 4-1. 

Jaiswal’s numbers look pretty right now, but as several highly-touted young stars before him can attest, Australia can well and truly make or break your career. 

Jaiswal doesn’t need to look far to see a cautionary tale of a youngster who got found out in Australia either. 

When India was last down under, Prithvi Shaw arrived with an equally big reputation, having scored a Test century on debut against the West Indies. 

However, Shaw was ruthlessly found out, firstly in two Tests in New Zealand before scoring a combined four runs in the first Test against Australia. 

Since being dropped after that Test, Shaw has not made a single appearance in the longest format of the game for his country. He was recently dropped by his domestic side Mumbai and after being compared to Sachin Tendulkar at one point, his international career looks dead in the water at just 24 years of age. 

Jaiswal struggled in unfamiliar conditions against South Africa last summer, scoring just 50 runs in four innings, and he’ll face an equally stern test this summer against the veteran Australian attack that can sniff out any blood in the water from a mile away. Any faults in his technique will be found out in a hurry. 

That doesn’t mean Jaiswal is destined to fail. This is the flipside of the Australian Test. If you pass it, as Tendulkar and Brian Lara both did over three decades ago, it can set up your entire career. 

The Australian tour also looms as somewhat of a make-or-break for Sarfaraz Khan, who has become a cult figure in Indian cricketing circles. 

Sarfaraz’s Test debut in 2024 was seemingly years in the making. After scoring literally thousands of runs at the domestic level — he averages 65.61 in 54 first class matches with 16 centuries — the right-hander was finally given a chance on the biggest stage. 

It is early but Sarfaraz’s Test career has been a mixed bag. Like Pant, he possesses the game-breaking ability that can allow him to change the course of a Test match in a session. 

He scored his first Test century in the series against New Zealand with a 195-ball 150 in the Bengaluru Test, but saw a pair of ducks and two other single-figure scores surrounding that knock. 

Sarfaraz only knows how to go at top gear, and was found out against the Black Caps as a result. If he can’t toggle through lower gears and bunker down during tough periods, he will not last long in Australia. The decision between Sarfaraz and KL Rahul for the number five spot in India’s line-up looms as a crucial one for the tourists’ brains trust. 

Major questions over shaky coaching transition

Among the question marks facing India as they head to Australia this summer is the make-up of the coaches box, which is now led by Gautam Gambhir.

Gambhir, who made a living as a nuggety opener between 2004 and 2016 and was an unsung hero in India’s World Cup final win in 2011, has taken over from Rahul Dravid following his three-year stint as coach. 

So far it has been a less than ideal start for the 43-year-old, who has been a polarising figure in Indian cricket both in his time as a player and in his post-playing career. 

Under Gambhir’s tenure, India has recorded a series of unwanted firsts that have him in the hot seat less than six months after he received the job.

India lost a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years earlier this year. That disappointment was followed by the stunning sweep at the hands of New Zealand, India’s first Test series defeat at home in 13 years. 

Gambhir came into the role with big shoes to fill after first Ravi Shastri then Rahul Dravid enjoyed successful reigns as Indian coaches in the last seven years. 

Touring Australia is unlike any other challenge India faces, and the coach takes on an an even more important role Down Under. 

It is no surprise that India’s two series wins in Australia came under the combative Shastri, who not only did an excellent job of shielding his players from any outside criticism or speculation, but also fostered an immense sense of self-belief within his players. 

Under Shastri, India believed it could win a match from any situation, with or without their best players. It is how they became the first team in 32 years to beat Australia at the Gabba, even with Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah sidelined.

Shastri made India a battle-hardened outfit that often had most opponents beaten before the first ball was bowled. It made the transition easy for Dravid, who is chalk and cheese in terms of personality when compared to his predecessor. 

Dravid too enjoyed a successful tenure. The former skipper delivered his country’s first World Cup win since 2011 when India claimed the T20 World Cup earlier this year, but also oversaw a side that blew three finals — one in the ODI World Cup and two in the World Test Championship. 

Gambhir comes into the role not having the gravitas of either the fiery Shastri or the more serene Dravid, making positive on-field performances all the more imperative.

Does he have what it takes to make tough calls on some of his ageing stars if they get off to a poor start? Can he shield his players in the way Shastri did on previous tours? These are the questions that the cricket-mad Indian public are searching for answers to.

India became a ruthless winning machine under both Shastri and Dravid, but suddenly come to Australia nursing some pretty significant wounds.

And if you’ve got any sort of wounds, Australia is the side you least want to come up against. Let alone in their own backyard. 

If Gambhir is able to steer his side to a third straight series win in Australia, it might rank as a greater triumph than the previous two.

Let the games begin.