It will be hot and humid in Chennai for the first Test against India on February 22 but Peter Siddle isn’t fussed about the weather.
His main concerns are that the pitches are about as helpful to quicks as Indian coach Duncan Fletcher is prone to smiling.
When MS Dhoni’s disinterested-looking Indian side were flogged 4-0 in Australia last summer, opener Gautam Gambhir felt brave enough to warn Michael Clarke’s men about what they’d face on their 2013 tour.
“If we can prepare rank turners, that’s where their technique and their temperament will be tested,” Gambhir said in January, 2012.
And Siddle, who was man of the match in the Test that followed soon after in Adelaide, hasn’t forgotten those words.
“The wickets are no doubt going to be very spinner-friendly after all the talk they gave us back here,” Australia’s pace spearhead told reporters on Thursday.
“The wickets are going to be hard. There’s not going to be a lot in there for us.
“We’re going to have to be very patient and very controlled with the way we bowl.
“But in saying that, (offspinner) Nathan Lyon or any other spinner who bowls is probably going to bowl a lot more than they would in Australia.
“They are going to take up a lot of overs from the other end to the quicks.
“So it won’t be probably a greater workload. It’s just going to be harder work getting the wickets.”
Siddle has been rested from Australia’s one-day series against Sri Lanka and West Indies and has thrown himself into a program of weights, running and bowling in the nets ahead of next week’s departure for India.
Siddle is keen to get back to Mohali for the third Test, where he made his debut in 2008.
“The body’s feeling great,” the 28-year-old said.
“I know I can give my all over there and hopefully that’s enough.”
Siddle says India’s climate is not that different to Australia’s.
“Heat-wise, there’s not a lot difference – a little bit drier,” he said.
“The wickets are the big thing we have to get used to.
“It’s just about playing on different types of wickets that keep a little bit lower, turn a little bit more and they’re harder for the fast bowlers to generate a little bit out of them.”