Arriving in Australia in the ember weeks of 2024, the Indian Test team is in an unusual position. They are, in a sense, defending champions. Starting in 1947, Asian teams toured Australia 30 times in a row without winning a series. Most of the time they didn’t come close: Australia won 24, six drawn. It was January 2019 in Sydney, after more than seven decades, that India’s run mountain while leading the series forced the home team to bat for a draw. India finished 2-1 and the impassable was overcome. Two summers later, thanks to the vagaries of a new touring program, India returned and did it again, this time sealing the same scoreline with a comeback run chase for the ages in Brisbane.
India became the subcontinent team that figured out how to win in Australia, taking down the first-choice home bowling attack both times in the process. Then last year, when hosting was reversed, Australia got swatted in Nagpur and Delhi to let India keep a grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the briefest time possible, just one more series win in India for a juggernaut that was unbeatable at home for a dozen years.
