'Excited' Australia hot to trot for India's spin-friendly challenge

The Australian women's cricket team is formidable across all formats and on all kinds of surfaces. However, they will have to grind hard when they take on the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in a one-off Test, starting Thursday, December 21.

India played a Test match against England at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai last week. The hosts won by a massive margin of 347 runs on a pitch with a lot in it for the spinners. Speaking about the turning track, England captain Heather Knight said the conditions were "extreme". The pitch deteriorated considerably as the match went on and it saw India picking up all ten English wickets in the first session on Day 3 to win the contest.

Australia coach Shelley Nitschke said that her players know what to expect and stressed the importance of adapting to the conditions on the run. The former all-rounder noted that her players are looking forward to the challenge.

"It's a tough one to prepare for," Nitschke said. "The girls are coming off the back of a WBBL, and looks like we are going to get some really traditional subcontinent conditions but it's also really exciting. Think everyone is just embracing the challenge. We are just doing whatever we can to prepare," Nitschke was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"Think it will just be a matter of how quickly that pitch deteriorates. It's a matter of adapting on the run and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, thinking that it will do something. We are trying not to read too much into it, but we certainly know what way it could go but it will be interesting how much it does change across the four days," the 47-year-old added.

Unless there's some significant change, Alyssa Healy will be leading Australia in 1st Test: Shelly Nitschke

Alyssa Healy missed a major part of the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) after being bitten by her dog. She didn't keep wickets in the 50-over practice match that Australia played at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, December 17. However, she did bat and got herself a half-century. Nitschke assured that Healy, the new permanent captain of Australia, will play the Test against India unless something significant happens.

"Everything is looking really positive, so fingers crossed it keeps going that way over the next three or four days. Unless there's some significant change think Midge [Healy] will be leading at the first day of the Test," Nitschke said.

Australia are expected to go in with abundant spin-bowling resources for the Test match. They are blessed to have a number of world-class all-rounders in their ranks and that can help them to keep a decent balance in their playing XI. The tourists are effectively going to select their final XI from a pool of 13 players as all-rounder Heather Graham has just arrived after playing a couple of WNCL games at home. Star pacer Megan Schutt hasn't joined the squad as yet, while Grace Harris has been picked only for the T20Is.

"We've certainly got a lot of options and a number of allrounders. We aren't really clear on where that will land at the moment, we have some decisions to make," Nitschke concluded.