NEW DELHI: Powerhouse India on Sunday suffered an unprecedented and embarrassing 3-0 series loss at home against New Zealand just before their high-profile tour of Australia which starts from November 22.
The recent whitewash against the Kiwis means a demoralized Indian team now has got to win 4 matches out of 5 Down Under in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy to make it to the WTC Final on their own.
With very less time to regather and regroup ahead of the marquee tour, questions are being raised over the team’s preparedness for the high profile series.
The Indian team also recently cancelled their warm-up game ahead of the first Test in Perth and legendary Sunil Gavaskar feels that the Australia tour will be a huge mountain to climb.
Gavaskar was critical of India’s spin plans against the Kiwis and slammed the ‘short-gain policy’ of producing rank-turners.
“Australia looks like a huge mountain to climb after the Indian team stumbled terribly on a speed bump called New Zealand. Nobody, not even the Kiwis themselves, would have thought of a clean sweep against India, and that too in India. It has happened thanks to the short-gain policy of preparing pitches for our spinners when just about everybody in the cricketing world agrees that we have the best new-ball bowler in the world across all formats,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Gavaskar questioned India’s decision to cancel the three-day intra-squad match with the ‘A’ side from November 15 to 17. The team management did so to focus on additional net practice but Gavaskar feels that the match would have helped the youngsters, particularly the ones who are travelling Down Under for the first time.
“We are now told that the warm-up game before the first Test has been called off. Wouldn’t it benefit youngsters like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Sarfaraz (Khan), who are playing on Australian pitches for the first time, to get some runs under their belt and get a feel of what the pitches will be like?
“And if they get out early, they can still get into the nets and practice against the throw-down specialist or the net bowlers. For bowlers like Akash Deep and Harshit Rana too, it’s essential to know the best length to bowl in Australia, as it’s different from India, and the best learning is in a proper match and not just net practice.
“Let’s just hope that good sense prevails, and even now, though it’s too late, some warm-up games can be arranged, even if it’s against the State A teams like Queensland A and Victoria A. These warm-up games will give the first-timers to Australia and youngsters good practice and a better chance to succeed, Gavaskar wrote.
The first India vs Australia Test is scheduled for November 22-26. After that India are scheduled to play a 2-day warm-up game in Canberra which will be followed by the Adelaide Test.
Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will hosting the remaining three Tests.