| Series Name: | Australia in India in 2004-05 |
| Team1 Image: | Flag of India.svg |
| Team1 Name: | India |
| Team2 Image: | Flag of Australia.svg |
| Team2 Name: | Australia |
| From Date: | October |
| To Date: | November 2004 |
| Team1 Captain: | Sourav Ganguly (1st and 2nd Tests) Rahul Dravid (3rd and 4th Tests) |
| Team2 Captain: | Adam Gilchrist (1st-3rd Tests) Ricky Ponting (4th Test) |
| No Of Tests: | 4 |
| Team1 Tests Won: | 1 |
| Team2 Tests Won: | 2 |
| Team1 Tests Most Runs: | Virender Sehwag (299) |
| Team2 Tests Most Runs: | Damien Martyn (444) |
| Team1 Tests Most Wickets: | Anil Kumble (27) |
| Team2 Tests Most Wickets: | Jason Gillespie (20) |
| Player Of Test Series: | Damien Martyn (Aus) |
The Australia national cricket team toured India in the 2004–05 season and played a four-match Test series, during October and November 2004, against India, Australia winning the series 2–1 with one match drawn, their first series win on Indian soil since their 1969-70 tour. The future Australian Test captain, Michael Clarke, made his Test debut in the first match, scoring 151 in the first innings. In the fourth match of the series, Clarke took 6 wickets for 9 runs in the second innings.
This was Australia's tenth tour of India. They had successes in the initial tours starting 1956–57, while India's successes came only in the later series. Australia had last won there in 1969–70, in their fourth visit. The tour preceding 2004–05, was in 2000–01, which ended 2–1 in India's favor, dubbed as one of India's greatest Test series wins of all time.[1]
The schedule for the series was finalised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in July 2004. Australia were scheduled to play a warm-up match against Board President's XI, a three-day fixture starting 30 September. It was announced that the First Test would begin on 6 October and the final on 7 November.[2] The venues were announced a few days later for this series and the one after, against South Africa later that season. Australia were to play the four Tests respectively at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur, and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Hyderabad was announced as the venue for Australia's warm-up match.[3] In early September, Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai were announced as their opponent and that the match would be played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.[4]
India were coming on the back of a poor performance at the Champions Trophy. However, captain Sourav Ganguly dismissed its affects on the series and stated that "One-dayers are one-off games. Our showing in these matches will have no bearing on the Test series".[5] Going into the series, his side were ranked fourth, and Australia first, in the ICC Test Team Rankings.[6]
A 16-man Australia squad was announced for the tour on 9 September 2004. It included three frontline spinners, Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White, and two part-timers Simon Katich and Michael Clarke. The spin-heavy squad picked was in contract to their previous tour. Spinner Stuart MacGill, who had a poor home series against India, and paceman Shaun Tait were dropped from the squad; paceman Brett Lee was added alongside Test regulars Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz. White's ability with the bat was cited by the selectors as the reason for his inclusion over MacGill, in addition to his spin bowling. His bowling had drawn comparisons to India's Anil Kumble in that he "he generates significant bounce off the pitch and is very quick through the air, and it's a style of bowling which has proved extremely effective on Indian wickets." Uncapped all-rounder Shane Watson was included as a specialist batsman on the back of good performances in the Australian domestic season. Eight other specialist batsman were included in the squad, all of them being Test regulars.[8]
Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who sustained a thumb injury during the Champions Trophy, was replaced by Brad Hodge for the First Test.[9] He was later ruled out for the first two tests,[10] and later, even the Third.[11] Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist was elevated to captaincy and Darren Lehmann was named the vice-captain.[12]
There were speculations that India's Sachin Tendulkar would not make the squad owing to his tennis elbow injury that had ruled him out of there ODI tournaments that India played preceding the Test series — the Holland triangular series, the NatWest Challenge and the Champions Trophy.[13] However, he stated he "really want[ed] to play" and that he was "hoping and praying that I am fit for the series, but it is important to be in good shape for that challenge."[14] However, in the 15-man squad named by the BCCI on 1 October for the first two Tests, he was included. An injured Ashish Nehra was left out of the squad that saw three other pacemen in Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, the latter of who was included owing to a good record against Australia. Mohammad Kaif, Murali Kartik, Aakash Chopra and Yuvraj Singh were other inclusions.[7] Captain Ganguly stated that either of Singh or Chopra would open the innings for his team alongside Virender Sehwag.[5]
Having not recovered in time, Tendulkar was ruled out of the First Test, a day prior of the match. This was the first time in his career that he missed a home Test match.[15] He also missed the second Test.[11] He returned for the Third, before conceding that he was not fully fit; "... the elbow is obviously not a 100 percent."[16] In India's squad announced for the Fourth Test, Patel, Chopra, Singh and Agarkar were excluded and four uncapped players were brought in — batsmen Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik, and paceman Shib Paul.[17]