"Would like to play more Tests....": Australian skipper Healy ahead of one-off Test against India

Australia will kickstart its multi-format tour against India also consisting of three ODIs and T20Is each with a Test match at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. In their previous Test just days back, India had handed over England a 347-run defeat, the highest-ever victory margin in Tests. A clinical display from their bowlers and batters formed the backbone of this spectacular win.

Australian skipper Alyssa Healy confirmed ahead of the one-off Test against India that she will play in the middle-order and expressed her thoughts about the multi-format tour to India not employing a points system to determine a winner. Australia will kickstart its multi-format tour against India also consisting of three ODIs and T20Is each with a Test match at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. In their previous Test just days back, India had handed over England a 347-run defeat, the highest-ever victory margin in Tests. A clinical display from their bowlers and batters formed the backbone of this spectacular win.

Healy expressed that she is surprised by the fact that the tour to India will not use a points system to determine the overall winner, but the team is nonetheless, happy to fight for Test, ODI and T20I trophies separately in testing Indian conditions. The Test at Wankhede will be Aussies women's first Test on Indian soil since 1984.

India's all-format tour to Australia back in 2021 had a point-based system, but it would not be used this time around. Australia had won that tour two years back by 11-5. Healy was among the players who expressed that the trophy used for the series to be used as a permanent trophy for a multi-format series between the rivals and to be held in the same regard as the men's Border-Gavaskar Trophy. "Yes or no," Healy told reporters on Wednesday as quoted by cricket.com.au, when asked if she was disappointed on the points system not being used.

Healy said that though there is merit in battling for three trophies separately, points system used to give a lot of context and value to Test cricket, a format which is easily the least played among all formats in women's cricket. "I think I can see value and merit in making them all separate and sort of rewarding the wins as you go. I can see the merit in that. But on the flip side of that, we have been a part of a few multi-format series where the points system has come into play and it's given the Test match in particular a greater context, in my mind," said Healy.

"And this might be a little bit cheeky, I would have thought that India would have backed themselves in their home conditions and got off to a four-nil start, so it does surprise me a little bit. But at the same time, it will be cool to just battle it out for three separate trophies," she added. Healy opined that the Test matches will become more relevant if a point system for multi-format tours are used. She also admitted that she along with the rest of her team would have loved to play two or three Tests on Indian soil, but a busy calendar for international cricket has made a one-off Test attached to multiple white-ball games as a go-to series format.

"The ability to adapt and adjust to conditions over time I think is really important throughout a series and for us to get a one-off Test match - and you look at the English result as well - it is really hard to take," Healy told reporters on Wednesday. "It is kind of one where you can throw it away and say it was really hard and the conditions were difficult, but you did not get the chance to adjust for the next Test match and build into the series."

"I would love to see more (Tests) played but I think the reality of that is it would not happen. At the same time, I think if more and more nations around the world are interested in playing the multi-format series, I think it is a great way to get Test cricket back relevant in our game," she concluded. Australia's next assignment, a home series against South Africa, which will also comprise of the first-ever Test between both teams along with three ODIs and three T20Is. The points system is expected to be used during that series.

Healy, the newly-appointed captain following the retirement of legendary skipper Meg Lanning, has been given a clearance to play following an index finger injury which caused her to miss the entire Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) season nine. The skipper will be taking the wicketkeeping gloves and bat in the middle order. Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney will be opening the batting and Healy is expected to bat at number five, like she did during a red-ball warm-up game against Mumbai on Sunday.

Healy is excited to play spin while batting in the middle order and is not too worried about it. "The challenge of facing a lot of spin through the middle will be a really good one," Healy said.

"I am not too worried about it. I think I have got the ability and I have played long enough to be able to adapt to that and just play the role that the team needs," she added. Healy did not catch a ball between her injury and departure for India. But since arriving to India, she has done really well in daily wicketkeeping drills at Wankhede and she feels prepared.

"I have been really impressed with how it's come back and how it is handled everything over here," Healy said. "I have got complete confidence in it again, so I am looking forward to getting back into a game of cricket," she concluded. (ANI)

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