The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2027 is still more than 10 months away but Australian opener Jake Weatherald has already chalked out how he will prepare for the big series. Weatherald who made his Test debut in the Ashes 2025-26 is not sure about his opening spot but aims to remain positive and gear up for the challenges ahead in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.
Weatherald is set to travel to Karnataka Institute of Cricket in India as part of Scollay's 'Cricket mentoring' program. He did it last year as well. He travelled alongside Joel Curtis, Jon Wells and Peter Hatzoglou. This time, he intends to learn more about tackling spin on challenging tracks of India. The last time Australia won a Test series in India was in 2004 when Ricky Ponting was captain. He aims to provide the visitors an edge and prey on an Indian side that has struggled at home of late, pointing to series whitewashes against New Zealand and South Africa.
"I'd love to get over there and play as much red-ball cricket as I can leading into the Test series and give myself the best chance to be selected and be in good form," said Weatherald as quoted by cricket.com.au.
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"The more red-ball cricket I can play and the more different conditions I can find myself in, the better. You don't know what the future holds and what will be going on, but at the same time, you want to prepare as well as you can for what you think is going to happen.
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"With an Indian tour potentially on the cards, I want to go over there and feel as I'm as ready as I can be.
"One of the big dreams is playing in an Ashes series. I managed to achieve that, and now it's probably kicking on and trying to play against India in India, which would be an amazing thing to do.
"You've watched so much cricket over there, and watched how Australia have found it hard over there, but also had a little bit of success recently – and India's struggled a little bit there recently (in Tests) too, so I think it's going to be a great series there."
Australia’s remainder of WTC schedule
Australia's next Test assignment is several months away. They will play a three-Test series against South Africa in September 2026. Then, they will head back home and host New Zealand in a three-Test series. After the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Indian soil, Australia will play a two-Test series against Bangladesh at home.
Weatherald’s Ashes stats
While Australia won the Ashes 4-1, Weatherald did not have a good run as an opener. From 10 innings, he could manage to score 201 runs at an average of 22.33. His sole half-century came in the Gabba Test.
Red-ball cricket priority, to face Boland challenge
Since then, he has said no to Hobart Hurricanes for the Big Bash League (BBL) 2025-26. Focused on red-ball cricket, he has played two Sheffield Shield matches this year. The Tasmania batter has scored 160 runs from four innings, including a 95-run knock against New South Wales.
"It's a difficult thing saying no to domestic cricket and it probably seems a little bit disrespectful to some people," the 31-year-old said. "I'm sure there were a lot of disappointed people, but the Hurricanes were awesome.
"Being Cricket Australia-contracted now, the focus is getting ready for Test cricket. I'm not saying that makes me guaranteed to play in the next one. But I'm getting paid to be ready for that."
The southpaw will be seen in action when Tasmania go up against Victoria in their next clash. His main challenge will be to counter an in-form Scott Boland.