Cricket Australia has confirmed a major multi-team India programme later this year, with Australia A men, Australia A women and Australia’s Under-19 men all scheduled to tour the country across September and October as preparations intensify ahead of the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Australia A men’s series against India A is expected to play a particularly important role in helping potential Test players adapt to Indian conditions before the five-match Test series beginning in Nagpur next January.
The Australia A men’s squad will play two four-day matches and three one-day fixtures in Puducherry between September 22 and October 11. The schedule places Australia’s fringe Test players in Indian conditions only a few months before the senior side begins one of its most significant overseas assignments of the World Test Championship cycle.
India preparation becomes a major focus
Australia have not won a Test series in India in more than 20 years, increasing the importance of extended preparation and subcontinent exposure ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign.
The 2027 Test series is also expected to arrive during an unusually compressed international calendar for Australia. The first Test in Nagpur begins on January 21, less than two weeks after Australia’s home Test against New Zealand concludes in Sydney on January 8.
Cricket Australia’s scheduling approach appears designed to expose a wider pool of players to Indian conditions well before the senior tour begins, particularly with Australia expected to rely heavily on specialist spin options and adaptable batting combinations during the series.
Last year’s Australia A tour provided several younger players with their first extended experience of red-ball cricket in India, including Sam Konstas, Cooper Connolly, Todd Murphy and Campbell Kellaway. Speaking to cricket.com.au last year, Former Australia Test Captain and current Australia A Coach Tim Paine said: “Chatting to guys before we came over, they had no idea that there were two different types of clays in India.”
Australia balancing development with a packed schedule
The Australia A tour will run alongside Australia’s white-ball commitments in Zimbabwe and South Africa, creating overlap between development cricket and international scheduling during a busy period for the national setup.
Some red-ball specialists could still potentially feature in the opening Australia A four-day fixture before joining the senior squad for the South Africa Test series beginning in Durban in October.
Cricket Australia has increasingly used A tours as part of its long-term Test preparation strategy, particularly in Asia where conditions differ significantly from those faced during home summers and tours of England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Speaking to cricket.com.au last year about Australia’s record in India, Paine said: “We’ve been coming here as a cricketing nation for a long, long time and if we’re totally honest, the results over that period haven’t got a hell of a lot better, have they?”
Paine also discussed the challenge of adapting to Indian conditions during overseas tours, saying: “Certainly in red-ball cricket, it’s an extremely tough place to come and win. In terms of the Test match conditions, it is extremely foreign, extremely challenging … we can’t just expect these young guys to come over here on a Test tour and expect them to be able to nail it without ever experiencing it beforehand.”
Women’s A and Under-19 tours also confirmed
Alongside the men’s A programme, Australia A women will tour India for a multi-format series featuring T20 matches, 50-over fixtures and a four-day game across Mohali and Dharamshala.
The women’s series will mark Australia’s first A tour of India since 2018 and forms part of the ongoing bilateral development agreement between the two countries following previous exchanges hosted in Australia during 2024 and 2025.
Australia’s Under-19 men will also travel to India during the same period for three one-day matches and two four-day fixtures in Rajkot and Ahmedabad, giving another group of emerging players early experience in subcontinent conditions before progressing toward senior pathways.
The Australia A men’s series will begin in Puducherry on September 22, while the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener between India and Australia is scheduled to start in Nagpur on January 21.
