NEW DELHI: Team India’s decision to cancel their practice match in Australia did not sit well with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, who called the move “beyond belief.”
The team’s initial plan included a practice match against India A at the WACA ground ahead of their opening Test match, which begins on November 22 at Perth Stadium.
“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.
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Gavaskar stated that the batters needed the practice game in Australia, especially given their struggles at home against New Zealand.
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“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,” he said.
“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 emphasized the importance of playing in real practice matches over just facing bowlers in net sessions. He acknowledges that some may argue that ‘A’ team bowlers might hold back against top players in practice games to avoid injuries, but he points out that in the nets, batters often face less prepared pitches and bowlers who sometimes bowl no-balls without penalty.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
