Former England captain Michael Vaughan is surprised by India’s decision not to play practice matches ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). India decided not to play any match against the home team Australia ahead of the 5-Test series starting on November 22 in Perth, while this had not happened in the last two tours.
Michael Vaughan told ‘Fox Sports’: ‘I don’t understand why a team like India wants to play ‘intra-team’ matches before playing Australia on home soil. He said: ‘How are we going to come out with a competitive mentality in a situation like this? Only time will tell.
After taking a knock on the elbow on day 1 of the match simulation, KL Rahul has recovered and is raring to go.#TeamIndia , #AUSvIND , @klrahul pic.twitter.com/FhVDSNk8tv
-BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2024
India has decided not to play even a three-day “intra-team” match with its “A” team. It focuses on practice at WACA’s main field in Perth. The Indian team management believes that the bounce on the main pitch at WACA is similar to that of the Perth stadium and practicing on it will benefit the top-order batsmen.
Michael Vaughan said: “I am surprised that this Indian team does not want to play a single practice match.” The tone of the WACA is similar to the main tone and has a similar bounce. Australia also did not play practice matches on the Test tours of India and England last year.
Indian team for Australia tour: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (goalkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (goalkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj , Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Note: Rohit Sharma will not play in the first Test. In his absence, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the team.
Australia’s squad for the first test: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
Indian team tour of Australia (November 2024 – January 2025)
November 22-26: First Test, Perth
December 6-10: second test, Adelaide
December 14-18: Third Test, Brisbane
December 26-30: Fourth Test, Melbourne
January 3-7: Fifth Test, Sydney
