Sunil Gavaskar was the latest to comment on the decision of the Indian team to cancel their scheduled practice game against India A, which was to have been played on November 18 at the WACA before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. As he pointed out when the announcement came to light, with the series starting on November 22, the decision begs the question of what wisdom dictated skipping a warm-up game right before a big series against Australia.
This decision comes just after India was defeated 0-3 against New Zealand- a performance that tells many things about which the side is struggling most, including handling spin. The side’s captain Rohit Sharma explained that they were keen to have match simulations in the nets rather than going through a real match there; something Gavaskar does not seem to fully believe in.
In fact, while writing for Mid-Day, Gavaskar expressed hope that this choice pays off. “For Indian cricket’s sake, I hope that whoever decided to cancel the warm-up game, as well as reduce the fixture against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI to a two-day event, proves to be right,” he wrote.
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Sunil Gavaskar also spoke about a proper match scenario before a tricky series. Talking of India’s recent outing against New Zealand, he said that though the team had managed to score over 400 in the second innings of the first Test in Bangalore, they could not do so in the following games. To him, India’s collapse against New Zealand’s spin attack exposed some gaping chinks in preparation.
The pitches weren’t exceptionally difficult but India’s batting looked “clueless” while chasing even modest targets. But for Sunil Gavaskar, the lack of a practice game, especially on Australian soil, raises some questions.
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“There’s no better feeling for a batter than spending time in the middle, getting used to the pitch, and finding rhythm with the ball hitting the middle of the bat,” he explained. To him, match practice is invaluable, more so for batsmen who would need to adapt to Australian conditions, and he feels that cancellation could be a missed opportunity for acclimatizing in such crucial series.
