The rhetoric ahead of the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia has been the around of pitches as the visitors decided not to play any practice matches ahead of the first Test in Nagpur starting February 9.
Australia opted out of playing a warm-up game ahead of the Test series and instead chose to simulate spin-friendly conditions near Bengaluru upon their arrival last week.
Australia batter Usman Khawaja first claimed that the pitches used for the warm-up games and the official matches were not similar at all, an argument seconded by former wicketkeeper Ian Healy.
Former Australia captain Steve Smith fed fire to the fuel when he called the practice matches ‘irrelevant’.
When legendary South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes was asked about the issue, he said it was a “very smart decision” by Australia to opt out of playing practice matches.
“I’ve seen the practice pitches in India and it has a lot of footmarks. The main pitch is used for training purpose. These days all the teams play a lot of cricket and turning tracks are not limited to India. It is important how much time you spend there and how much you prepare, this helps you adapt to the conditions,” Rhodes was quoted saying by Dainik Jagran.
“I understand what (Steve) Smith wanted to say. He knows the practice pitches will be greener and match will be played on the training pitch and Australia took a very smart decision. Players are playing all around the world and they have evolved into smart cricketers.”
“Both the sides will engage in an exciting Test series,” Rhodes added.
India come into the four-match series against Australia, confident on the back of positive results with back-to-back series wins over Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
With a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) finals on the line for India, the Tests series is of paramount importance as Australia are currently ranked one sit on the top of the WTC points table. India, on the other hand, are placed second.
India and Australia are slated to play four Tests, first in Nagpur, followed by another in New Delhi, and the least two being in Dharamshala and Ahmedabad respectively.
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