Former India wicket-keeper batter Deep Dasgupta added that the extensive training period ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka comes at a crucial time for the team, who have struggled with injuries amid the international cricketing calendar. Team India have a lot of injury concerns as they prepare for a two-match away Test series in Sri Lanka, beginning from August 15 onwards.
“In my opinion, this is a dream preparation for Team India, now how they use this time is an entirely different thing. If we compare the preparations with the Ireland and England tour, that was not ideal, that was like firefighting. Players were getting injured, players were unavailable. So as a coach, you are not able to prepare anything. Just as you set a playing XI, someone or the other gets injured, then they have to change it. It will be rare that India gets 10-15 days to prepare for a series. It might not be practically possible to get 10-15 days before a series,” Deep Dasgupta said on his YouTube channel.
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However, lack of preparation time, especially to switch from the T20 formats to a longer one, was a huge problem ahead of Team India’s recent Test series in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
“Gautam Gambhir will prefer preparation camps like this because he is actually getting to coach players. Just a day or two before the match, you are not coaching, you are managing players. I will not be surprised if the Indian coaching staff are really happy because this is the chance where they can actually coach a player, rather than managing,” Deep Dasgupta opined.
“I’m really happy and glad the team has reached quite early, and they have got the time to prepare for this series. The current idea should be to take one Test at a time, focus on preparation, and how you can prepare and set the team up for the future. Obviously, you would want to win every match and series, but if there is a priority, it should be improving the team, especially on spinning tracks. We all know how our recent record on spinning tracks at home has been. That is an area where a lot of work needs to be done,” he concluded.
