India have opted for match simulation instead of a practice match ahead of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting November 22 - Here's why.
Earlier, India planned to play an intra-squad match with India A at WACA between November 15 and 17 ahead of the 2024 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They have scrapped the warm-up fixture and opted for a centre-wicket training with India A instead. That means India’s first game of the series will be the opening Test in Perth.
"Look, you know, rather than practice match, we planned a very match simulation kind of a thing with India A," India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed.
India enter the series after a 0-3 series whitewash against New Zealand at home. Rohit feels "game time is not a problem" for his team. So they opted for match simulation to make full use of the three-day slot, allowing their players to spend more time in the middle.
Rohit: Match simulation will allow us to spend more time in the middle
"I think sometimes when you play that practice match, we're travelling with a squad of 19 players and it was only three days that were allotted to us. And I don't know how much workload we can get done in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared," Rohit stated.
He added: "So we, as a management as well, we feel that rather than having that, the match simulation where the batters can spend more time in the middle, batting in the middle, and then the bowlers as well can bowl a lot of balls, so that is something that, we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem. All of us have been playing a lot of cricket. So it's just about spending time in the middle.
With two quick breakthroughs in his opening spell, Mitchell Starc became the fastest Australian to register 100 or more ODI wickets at home.
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"If a batter gets out, he has to sit in the dugout for the whole day, you know, and he doesn't get too much of batting done," Rohit said. "Whereas in match simulation kind of a thing, you know, the batters can go out and play 50-70 balls and then if you feel that he's had enough, we can retire him out and then get someone else in. So that is the plan.
"We want to maximise this three-day slot that we've got and I feel this is the best way to do it where the batters can have a lot of time in the middle and the bowlers at the same time can get their workload in terms of getting the number of balls bowled in the middle. So that was the idea and we will be.
"I think we'll be training at WACA, which is as close to Optus where you have that bounce and carry. So hopefully we can use those three days perfectly and maximise how much ever we can from our point of view."
India's defeat to New Zealand jeopardised their chances of making it to the World Test Championship final. Out of the five Tests in Australia, they now need to win at least four to not depend on other results for final qualification.
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