Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the Indian management to cancel the practice match ahead of the opening Test match against Australia. India was all set to take on India A before playing against Australia but it was surprisingly cancelled.
Gavaskar noted that Indian batters struggled to get going in the three-match Test series against New Zealand in spin-friendly conditions.
Batters like KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Dhruv Jurel played for India A against Australia A but only Jurel was able to impress with the bat.
“For Indian cricket’s sake (I hope) 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,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
Barring the second innings at Bengaluru when India posted 462 runs, the Indian batters failed to come up with a collective batting effort against the Kiwis. The hosts also failed to chase down 147 runs in the second innings in the third Test at Mumbai as they were skittled out at 121.
“To be fair, the Indians did score over 400 in the second innings (of the first Test) in Bangalore, but after that, in four innings, they looked utterly clueless against a spin attack that by no stretch of imagination was so dangerous that India couldn’t chase 150 in the fourth innings. Yes, there was turn on offer, but again, the pitches were not impossible to play on,” Gavaskar wrote.
The Little Master believes match practice would have hold the Indian batters in good stead and no amount of net sessions can be enough as compared to an actual 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,” Gavaskar added.
The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.
