Melbourne: Australia will struggle on its tour of India where it will play four Tests against the world’s top-ranked side in spin-friendly conditions, former captain Ricky Ponting has predicted.

Steve Smith’s men will travel to India next month having been beaten 4-0 four years ago.

It was also whitewashed 3-0 in Sri Lanka last August in similar conditions prompting Ponting to issue a grim outlook for the team.

“I think they’ll struggle,” the 42-year-old, who played 168 Tests for Australia told Sky Sports Radio. “Every team that goes there struggles.

“It’s become harder and harder for visiting teams to go to India. They probably make wickets to suit them more than ever before.

“I went there for a lot of tours and we obviously played in some tough conditions,” said Ponting.

“But the wickets were good for the first couple of days of the game and then they started to turn.

“But now, even looking at what happened in Sri Lanka, whenever the Australian team tours anywhere on the subcontinent you can guarantee the wicket is going to turn, and turn quite a bit, from day one of the game.

“The challenges are going to be there for the Aussie team,” Ponting said.

“Even if we don’t win, I don’t think it’d be that big of a deal. It’s a real learning curve for our guys now to find a balance between playing the Australian way, but (also) adapting that to Indian conditions,” he said.