After India's humiliating defeat to New Zealand that saw them lose a home Test series after 12 years, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar was not pleased with the team's preparation for the upcoming series against Australia, where the Rohit Sharma-led side are scheduled to play five Test matches.
The series is an important one for the Indian team as they aim to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) for the fifth time in a row while also sealing a historic hat-trick of series victories on Australian soil. Meanwhile, India needs to win four matches to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final without depending on other results.
Ahead of the first Test match against Australia on November 22 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, India were scheduled to play a three-day warm-up match against India 'A' at the iconic WACA Stadium. However, the match has been cancelled, with India instead opting for centre wicket match simulation.
The decision has left Sunil Gavaskar annoyed, who criticised the move and claimed that batting in the nets cannot replicate the pressure of batting in a match.
"That is why the cancellation of the team’s warm-up game in Perth against the India ‘A’ team beggars belief. There is no better feeling for a batter to spend time out in the centre and feel the ball hit the middle of the bat. No amount of net practice is ever going to replace that feeling of flow and bat speed that one gets even after a short stay at the crease.
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. Yes, there’s a possibility that the ‘A’ team new ball bowlers may not go flat out because of the worry of injuring a key batter, but that’s more likely to happen in the nets where the pitches are usually not as well prepared as in a match and where the bowlers bowl no-balls without any repercussion.
"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," wrote Gavaskar to Mid-Day.
"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. For Indian cricket’s sake whoever has taken the call to do away with the warm-up game and then reduce the match between the first and second Test against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI to two days will be proven right.
"Even between the third and fourth Test there’s a gap of about seven days which could have been utilised to play a two-day game if not a three-day game. This would have given the guys who are struggling to get runs and wickets the opportunity to get back to form and also for those who are in the team to press a claim for inclusion in the last two Test matches," Gavaskar added.
The former India captain revealed that New Zealand players were in the nets a day after winning the Mumbai Test and sealing a 3-0 whitewash and questioned India's 'workload management' theory.
"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.
"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. If things go well then great, else it will be a long, long tour for everybody, especially the Indian cricket fans," Gavaskar stated.