I think Aus's struggles in the subcontinent are overstated. They have beaten India in India more recently than the Proteas have, and they also won their last two series in Sri Lanka 1-0 and 3-0.
Sri Lanka, in fact, have only ever won one Test against Aus. That was at home in 1999. They haven't beaten Aus, home or away, this century. The Proteas, by comparison, won 1-0 in SL in 1993, drew 1-1 in 2000, lost 1-0 in 2004 and 2-0 in 2006. So the claims that the Proteas are good in subcontinent conditions while Aus are at sea don't hold true in SL. Aus have generally been much better in SL than we have.
The upcoming series for Aus will be really interesting because they haven't played Pak in UAE yet. Well, they did way back in 2002 when they won 3-0. But they haven't played *this* Pak team since they moved to the UAE *this* time. Pak is a really tough nut to crack in the UAE, nobody has won a series there since they moved in 2010. So it'll be a good test for Aus.
Sri Lanka, in fact, have only ever won one Test against Aus. That was at home in 1999. They haven't beaten Aus, home or away, this century. The Proteas, by comparison, won 1-0 in SL in 1993, drew 1-1 in 2000, lost 1-0 in 2004 and 2-0 in 2006. So the claims that the Proteas are good in subcontinent conditions while Aus are at sea don't hold true in SL. Aus have generally been much better in SL than we have.
The upcoming series for Aus will be really interesting because they haven't played Pak in UAE yet. Well, they did way back in 2002 when they won 3-0. But they haven't played *this* Pak team since they moved to the UAE *this* time. Pak is a really tough nut to crack in the UAE, nobody has won a series there since they moved in 2010. So it'll be a good test for Aus.