Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the Indian’s team preparation for the Australia tour after their humiliating 3-0 series defeat against New Zealand at home. Sunil Gavaskar was not pleased with a big decision taken by the BCCI ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy where the two teams will play five Tests.
Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the Indian cricket team’s decision to call off their warm-up match ahead of the five-match Test series against Australia. The team, led by Rohit Sharma, was supposed to play a practice game against India ‘A’ on Perth’s fast and bouncy pitch. But they opted to concentrate more on net sessions and match simulation than the scheduled warm-up game.
The Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 an important one for India and Australia with an eye on place in WTC finals
Sunil Gavaskar slams India for cancelling practice game and workload management ahead of BGT 2024-25
Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar slammed the side for canceling their intra-squad practice match ahead of the all-important Test series against Australia down under. With the first Test in Perth starting on November 22, the Indian senior side was slated to play a three-day match against India A from November 15 to 17.
However, Rohit Sharma’s men decided to go with match simulations instead and called off the practice game. Workload management has also become a constant theme among the Indian think tank in recent times, especially for the fast bowlers.
Yet, in his column for the Mid Day, Gavaskar despised the term ‘workload’ and cited examples of how much it is being overstated.
“But of course what about workload? The dreaded word that is bandied about even if the game finishes in three days. By the way, some of the New Zealand players who had just beaten India in all three matches were at the nets the day after their win in Mumbai,” he wrote.
Gavaskar added:
“Just for the record, if one counts the number of days the Indian team will be in Australia from say November 12 till January 7, it will be a total of 57 days. If all Test matches go the distance they will be on the field for 25 days plus the two-day game against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI. So a total of 27 days out of 57. Ah ha, that’s workload for you.”
The five Tests will be played over 47 days from November 22 to January 7 with only a two-day warm-up game scheduled between the first and the second Tests.
“India have invariably lost the first Test match of tours to the SENA countries” – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar feels India’s inevitable defeat in the opening Test of SENA tours should have further enhanced the importance of playing a warm-up match before the start of the series.
The Indians lost the first Test in their latest SENA tour in South Africa at the end of last year before finishing on level terms with a win in the second Test. Even in their historic 2020-21 series win in Australia, India suffered defeat in the opening Test at Adelaide.
“India have invariably lost the first Test match of tours to the SENA countries. After that it’s an uphill climb which the team did successfully on the previous tour. That’s why it was important for them to play a warm-up game even if it is against their own ‘A’ team,” wrote Gavaskar.
He added:
“The batters know that in the nets they can be dismissed three or more times and yet continue to bat and then play with no tension or pressure at all. So temperamentally it’s never going to be the same as playing in a proper match. For the bowlers too, getting into a proper rhythm with run-up and get confident about not overstepping is crucial. What line and length to bowl is also something that one can learn in a proper game and not in the nets.”
India is coming off a shocking 0-3 home Test series whitewash to New Zealand, leaving them no room for error as it pertains to the World Test Championship (WTC) final qualification. Rohit Sharma and his Men will have to defeat Australia by a margin of 4-0 or better to ensure WTC final qualification.