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Coach Justin Langer says quarantine restrictions may prevent Australia from training together as a squad prior to their first home game this summer.
Australia's white-ball squad may not train together before starting their summer, while coach Justin Langer admits he is worried about domestic cricket suffering when two national teams embark on separate tours.
An updated schedule for India's tour, set to feature three Twenty20s and three ODIs in south-east Queensland then a four-Test series starting in mid-December at Adelaide Oval, is close to being finalised.
Cricket Australia is waiting on the government to sign off on quarantine arrangements for players travelling from the UAE, where the Indian Premier League is currently being staged, to Brisbane.
Langer has a clear idea of what to expect in coming months, starting with a trip to Queensland on November 22.
"In one way it's daunting, in another way it's exciting," Langer told SEN.
"We'll have our first white-ball game probably the day after they (IPL players) get out of their quarantine.
"So we actually won't train together for those two weeks leading up to the first white-ball game."
This summer's logistics are still being worked out.
Hope is growing at CA that players will enjoy more freedom of movement than first feared, which would mean an enlarged Test squad will not be locked in a biosecurity bubble throughout the series against Virat Kohli's team.
But a dual-squad nightmare looms in February, when Australia are booked to play a T20 series in New Zealand that will likely clash with a slated Test tour of South Africa.
There was a near-identical schedule clash in 2018, but that was before the time of COVID-19.
"My personal opinion is I don't like it at all," Langer said, noting he'd made that point to CA chief executive Nick Hockley and chairman Earl Eddings.
"I don't want to have two Australian teams ... we're one country aren't we?
"Let's say you've got to take 18 players to New Zealand, 18 players to South Africa. That's 36 players out of the back end of the Sheffield Shield ... they're the sort of things that worry me.
"It's a really strange season - we've seen it in the AFL and NRL - but I certainly would never like to see that becoming a permanent fixture."
Langer is following the Shield season plus IPL action closely, having recently checked in with IPL coaches Ricky Ponting, Andrew McDonald and Simon Katich plus a range of players in the UAE.
Plenty of players impressed Langer in the opening Shield round, including the all-round efforts of Ashton Agar and Michael Neser.
"He (Neser) is a fine cricketer. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets an opportunity with the Australian cricket team soon; he's been on lots of tours and keeps knocking hard," he said.
