Will India's Test series against Windies will be helpful ahead of Australia tour?
Windies will be touring India for two Tests from 4 to 16 October. Virat Kohli will be the skipper of India. India dropped Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay as they struggled to perform against England. Dhawan and Vijay scored 162 and 26 runs respectively against England.
Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Mohammed Siraj are included in the squad and are likely to play their debut Test in the series. KL Rahul and Mayank have contributed with their great performances for Karnataka in the domestic tournaments.
Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are rested for this series. Rishabh Pant will be the wicket-keeper for India. He scored his debut Test century in the fifth Test against England at The Oval.
The spin unit will hinge on Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The latter made his ODI comeback after a year in the Asia Cup which India won while Hanuma Vihari is also a part of the squad.
India's Australian litmus test
India will play four Tests against Australia from December 6 to January 7. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to lead the Indian pacers for this series. If Ishant Sharma recovers from his injury, he will be among the squad as well.
What is in store in India and Australia?
Indian pitches are spin-friendly. The non-Asian teams struggle to perform on these pitches. The conditions of the Indian pitches on Day 1 are different from that on other days. The spin on the first day of the Tests is not something that the overseas batsmen are used to. India's spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja are likely to be among the wickets.
Australian pitches are largely docile but bowlers who have extra pace and generate more bounce usually have a lot of success. The ball doesn't turn a great deal aside from towards the end of the Test matches. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are among the most feared bowlers in Australia.
How India, Windies and Australia stack up
India is currently No. 1 Test team, Windies are ranked No. 8 while Australia are in the third place. Since 2012, Windies are struggling to perform in the Tests against superior teams like England, Australia, India and they aren't comparable with neither India nor Australia in terms of the quality of their squad.
Windies last time toured India in 2013, where the Men in Blue won the 2-match series 2-0. Kieran Powell, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel are among the current Windies Test squad who played against India in 2013.
India visited Australia previously in 2014, where the Men in Blue lost the 4-match series by 2-0. Virat Kohli was the highest run-scorer for India with 692 runs. While Mohammed Shami picked was the highest wicket-taker for his team with 15 wickets to his name.
India's Test series against Windies is unlikely to be of much help ahead of the tour to Australia. As the quality of the team and the pitches will be different, India may struggle in Australia. To reduce the burden, India should look to play at least two 4-day practice matches against domestic teams in Australia. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult for Indians to make a smooth transition and win the series.