Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the Board of Control for Cricket in India will ensure the team plays warm-up matches on the SENA tours. However, he raised doubts over the quality of opposition in those practice matches.
Earlier, Indian skipper Shubman Gill had called for at least 15-day training camps ahead of a Test series, especially in overseas conditions. In the recent review meeting on Thursday, the BCCI’s top brass decided that there will be consistent shadow tours for the India A team ahead of any Test series in SENA countries.
“If you are going to SENA countries, there will be mandatory warm-up games. There was an era when the England tour used to last the entire summer. It was a four-month tour where you played seven matches against county teams. Then it started reducing slowly. It’s being made mandatory now,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“Theoretically, it’s not wrong, but I don’t know how to maintain the quality of those games. I don’t have the answer for that at the moment because at the time I am talking about, the teams used to be good, and they used to almost beat us. Now they play their second-team players, saying the match has no significance. So that one thing is still missing. The quality will have to be maintained a little,” he added.
Chopra added that players’ workload will be under the scanner given the hectic international schedule along with IPL.
“The players’ workload will remain under focus because there is IPL along with international cricket, and if you see, Hardik Pandya hasn’t played for a long time, and Jasprit Bumrah has also missed a lot of cricket. There was a lengthy discussion on that. It was decided to give more rest to the players between two series,” he said.
The former Delhi cricketer reckons an away ODI series against South Africa before the World Cup would be beneficial for the team.
“A roadmap has been prepared for 2027. If we have to go to South Africa and play World Cup matches, can we go to South Africa before that and play a bilateral series? Can we acclimatize ourselves a little more?” Chopra observed.
India’s next ODI series is at home, against the West Indies.
