Aussie era of dominance not over after Test loss: Healy

Alyssa Healy has brushed off suggestions Australia’s era of dominance is over after their Test loss to India, saying people should judge her team at the end of their month-long tour.

Australia’s eight-wicket defeat at Wankhede Stadium was their first loss to India in the longest format of the game, in what was also their first Test in India in almost 40 years.

Healy’s team will now turn their attention to the upcoming three ODIs and three T20Is, series that will provide a marker of where the world’s top-ranked team stand ahead of upcoming World Cups in both formats.

"It's not even a blip," Healy said of the Test defeat on Sunday, when asked if Australia’s era of dominance was over.

"It's a format where we're not overly familiar with, in conditions that we're not familiar with.

"I see more positives out of this and than any sort of negativity.

"I think there is always a lot of expectation and external noise about our team and how we're performing … they are so used to seeing us winning that I think at times they forget that we've actually seen quite a lot of change over the last 12 to 18 months that kind of goes unnoticed external to our group.

"Within our group we're really comfortable with where we're at and the progression that we're on and where we want to get to moving forward."

Australia will defend their T20 World Cup crown in Bangladesh next September and October, and the next ODI World Cup will be played in India in mid-2025.

The upcoming three ODIs and three T20Is against India will be a chance for Australia to test themselves against one of their strongest rivals, in the conditions they will face in those tournaments.

It will be Australia’s first ODI series in India since March 2018 – a series that was the start of a golden period for the Australian team, after their victory in the opening game in Baroda sparked a record-breaking run of 26 consecutive wins in the format.

After the bitter disappointment of their early exit at the 2017 ODI World Cup, that tour saw a newly focused group bond, begin living their new fearless ethos and start a journey that would deliver three consecutive T20 World Cups and the 2022 ODI World Cup.

This time, Australia are in the middle of a World Cup cycle, but find themselves entering a new era under Healy following the retirement of Meg Lanning, which came after the 2022 departure of coach Matthew Mott, and the retirement of vice-captain Rachael Haynes.

"Ultimately there's a big T20 World Cup in Bangladesh towards the end of next year and that is a real carrot for us," Healy said.

"Those are the big trophies that we're wanting to win and every series in between now and then is important, but at the same time we're building towards that World Cup and we want to make sure that we're playing our best cricket to win those big moments.

"Maybe you can ask me that same question (about Australia’s era of dominance) at the end of the six white-ball games to see how we're going and we can answer that.

"We're playing some really good cricket – I'm not too concerned about where we're at and I think these next six games probably give us a better indication about how we're tracking, but also what we might need to improve on."

Australia's CommBank Tour of India

December 21-24, Only Test: India win by eight wickets

December 28: First ODI, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

December 30: Second ODI, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

January 2: Third ODI, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

January 5: First T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 7: Second T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 9: Third T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Lauren Cheatle (Test only), Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar