Like Sunil Gavaskar, fellow India legend Anil Kumble too questioned the team's preparatory plans for the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia after captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that they would not be playing any practice match in the build-up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Perth on November 22.

Kumble's comment came in the wake of India suffering a humiliating 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home. On Sunday, India, touted to bag a consolation win days after suffering their first Test series defeat on home soil in 12 years, marking an end to their historic 18-series win, failed to chase down 147 on Day 3 of the final Test match against the Kiwis in Mumbai and eventually succumbed to a 25-run loss an hour after Lunch.

Following the loss, Kumble, speaking to JioCinema, admitted that he was “surprised” at BCCI cancelling the practice match India were slated to play against the currently-touring India A side in Perth. He reckoned that if not for the senior players, a practice game would have been an ideal preparation for the players touring Australia for the first time.

“I'm a bit surprised that India don't have a practice match going into the first Test because that would have been an ideal preparation. No matter how much you practice in the nets, going out in the middle and facing a few bowlers in the match is totally different,” he said.

How will India prepare for Perth opener?

While KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel will reportedly reach Australia by Tuesday in a bid to play India A match against Australia A in Melbourne later this week, the remaining members of the Indian team will leave for Perth on November 10. They will practice at WACA, the old Test venue in the city, where the team will undergo match simulation as a method to gear up for the Australia Test series opener.

“We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and only three days were allotted to us. I don’t know how much workload we can get in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared. The management feels that we’d rather have a match simulation where batters can spend more time in the middle and the bowlers can bowl a lot of balls. 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,” Sharma said after the 0-3 home whitewash against New Zealand on Sunday.

“If a batter gets out, he has to sit in the dugout for the whole day, and doesn’t get too much batting done. However, in a match simulation, the batters can go out and play 50-70 balls and then if we feel he’s had enough, we can retire him out and get someone else in. That is the plan,” the skipper informed.

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