The scheduling of the tour meant that the players chosen to go to India would miss out on the first round of Sheffield Shield games in Australia and only have two weeks to press their claims for selection before the first test in Australia. Cricket writer Samir Chopra later wrote: The names of the tourists that year were a mixture of the giggle-inducing and the dramatic. It was the autumn of 1979, and the last Packer-depleted Australia side to turn out for the ACB was in India. Those of us that greeted them that year knew little of what reluctant tourists they were, about how they felt cheated and betrayed by their overlords, and how they griped and belly-ached about their touring and playing conditions... All we knew was that Indian cricket was suspended in a bizarre netherworld, one where the world's best cricket players all seemed to be playing in a poorly attended circus in Australia, while second-stringers were sent to our shores. But I still thought the Packer players were mercenaries and still paid obeisance to nation-based cricket, so these players were going to get all my attention. Tour The Australian team left for Madras on 21 August. Hughes: It will be a great experience for us to play in India — an Australian team hasn't been there for 10 years. It will be a real challenge as India is certain to be very hard to beat on its home grounds... We will have plenty of eye-catching performances in both batting and bowling and I'm sure paceman Rodney Hogg is going to be a success on Indian wickets along with spinners Jim Higgs, Peter Sleep and Bruce Yardley. I feel that players of the class of all-rounder Allan Border, batsmen Rick Darling and Graham Yallop and hopefully myself, will produce efforts that will win us matches and also please the crowds. The team was on a plane when the engine blew one hour out of Singapore and had to return. This meant the Australians arrived in India 22 hours behind schedule. The Australians spent a week in Madras to acclimatise. After arriving at Madras, Rick Darling and Jim Higgs both fell sick with stomach ailments. However the mood was optimistic and the key players seemed in good form at practice sessions. According to one report: Yallop, in particular, is in masterly touch. His driving today was fluent and