Justin Langer: Australia building battle-hardened squad for 2022 tour of India

The two teams will clash in a Test series only in September-October, 2022. Langer hopes to have a squad mature enough to combat the World No. 1 Test team.

Justin Langer... “We’ve got a couple of years now to find that maturity.”

Justin Langer, the Australia head coach, has said he has started building a battle hardened and mature national squad that would be able to challenge the Indian team in India in a Test series in 2022.

Langer, who took over as head coach soon after the ball-tampering episode in South Africa, has closely observed India dominating at home in the longest format. When he was appointed, he had spoken about the ultimate goal of defeating India in India. He now has one goal in mind — to have a squad mature enough to combat the World No. 1 Test team.

With a 3-0 defeat over South Africa last month, India registered a record-breaking 11th home series win on the trot.

“It reminds me of how hard it is, that’s for sure,” Langer told ESPNcricinfo . “It’s always been the case that it’s been hard to win in India. But that’s the expectation and we’ve got a couple of years now to find that maturity. I’m talking about, to be nice and battle hardened and as ready as possible for that series,” he said.

Read | Ian Chappell: Mental health issue of Aussie cricketers has reached 'epidemic proportions'

India and Australia will clash in a Test series only in September-October, 2022. The tour will include four Tests and three T20Is as per the current Future Tours Programme.

India defeated Australia in a Test series in Australia in 2018-19. Photo: Getty Images

 

Australia has so far had an inconsistent run under Langer. The team lost a home series to India before defeating Sri Lanka. It just about managed to retain the Ashes with a drawn Test series in England earlier this year. “I think it was an indication of the maturity of our team. I don’t mean maturity in age but coming together as a group, it takes great skill but it takes time, great mental toughness and endurance, to be able to back it up over and over again,” he said.

“When you’re going through it you’d love to see more of that consistency, but I look at it from a bigger picture point of view, it means we’ve got areas we can keep getting better in.”