On the eve of the third Test against South Africa at SCG, Australia skipper Pat Cummins said the Sydney pitch has a "huge connection" to the Indian conditions and it will provide his side an ideal preparation ahead of the Test tour of India.

Having won the first two Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia are leading the three-Test series 2-0 against South Africa and a win at SCG will secure their place in the WTC final.

Over the years, Australia have struggled in the subcontinent conditions but spinning track is likely to be served at the SCG bearing in mind the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India.

"It's a huge connection to India," Cummins told reporters on Tuesday (January 3).

"Fast bowling and reverse swing is going to come into it, which we can expect in India. Probably get more spin overs here, our batters are probably going to face more spin here as well, so it's a really good connection.

"Even personally, captaining here might be a little different to the last few Test matches," he added.

Australia are currently occupying the top spot in the WTC points table with 10 wins from 14 Tests. In their last series before the final, Cummins and his men will face India, who are holding the second spot with eight wins.

"It's been a big driver for us over the last couple of years. I think playing in London (in) a final against India, say, at a neutral venue, that's really exciting."

In the inaugural edition of WTC, Australia had missed out on the final spot to New Zealand after being docked four points by the ICC for being two overs behind in the 2020 Boxing Day Test.

"It was still a new concept so even things like overs rates – it wasn't really spoken about as importantly as perhaps what we think about it now," Cummins stated.

"I think we got down to nine minutes down at one stage (in a recent Test) so we just made sure we had Travis Head or 'Smithy' (Steve Smith, two part-time spin bowlers) as an option and we got back basically within a couple of overs.

"Having just missed out on the World Test Championship final last cycle, that was always going to be a big goal. I think we've been playing fantastically, we've put ourselves in that position to earn that spot early which is a huge driver for us.

"It's always exciting going to England and playing an Ashes series, but adding in a World Test Championship final is huge."

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 is slated to get underway in Nagpur on February 9. The next three Tests will be played in Delhi (February 17-21), Dharamsala (March 1-5), and Ahmedabad (March 9-13) respectively.

(With PTI inputs)