In 2018, Team India’s performance in the overseas conditions, especially in Test cricket hasn’t been even near to impressive. Despite winning Tests in Johannesburg and Nottingham, Virat Kohli and his men have already lost the Test series in South Africa and England. However, they have done a decent job in ODIs and T20Is in all the conditions.
Now, the Indian team will be locking horns with Australia and the tour is scheduled to be starting later this year in November. Despite being the No.1 team in Tests, India have failed to win enough games in the longer format in order to prove that they deserve to be the no.1 team.
Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid attempted to explain the huge difference between India’s performance in the different formats. According to the legendary batsman, it is nothing but their lack of practice with the red ball that makes their batting in the longer format look “work in progress”. He feels that India excels in ODIs and T20Is because of the amount of cricket they play in those two formats.
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As quoted in NDTV, Dravid said, “It’s the amount of white-ball cricket and, therefore, the hours of short-format training that make the Indians so good in one-day international and Twenty20 International cricket. Not to forget the bench strength, which is quite well rounded.”
Speaking about India’s batting woes in Test cricket, something which was seen repeatedly in the recent tour of England where no other batsman apart from the skipper Virat Kohli could bat consistently well. Dravid feels that the hard work needs to happen on a consistent basis as it’s not a one-time thing or a two-year thing. The team needs to make sure there are opportunities every year.
Team India will be playing two practice games against Australia, but the Indian skipper Virat Kohli has criticized the quality of oppositions in those matches. On the other hand, Dravid has disagreed to Virat’s words and mentioned that India should play at least a couple of matches in order for them to acclimatize with the conditions, which is only going to help them in the international red-ball fixtures.
During his recent interview with Hindustan Times, Rahul said, “I benefitted hugely from having proper first-class games. Maybe schedules have changed and things are more complicated, but there is no doubt that a couple of first-class games before any Test tour is only going to help. I found this 14 playing 14 [rotation system] started happening towards the end of my career. I did not like those games as a player.”
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Previously, a number of former Indian cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the Indian team surrounding their refusal to play too many warm-up matches. While in South Africa, they didn’t play a practice game, in England, Kohli’s troops locked horns with Essex in Chelmsford prior to the five-match Test series.
