Sunil Gavaskar, in a post-mortem of the short two-Test series played by India in South Africa, advised the Indian cricket team to play a few first-class practice games on an away tour. By refusing to do so on numerous tours in the last decade or so, the Indian cricket team has invariably lost the first Test and then has to play catch-up.
I am reminded of India's Test tour to Australia in 1977-78, the first series that I followed as a 12-year old. The tour itinerary below gives a glimpse into the number of first-class games that India played before and in between the Tests.
India in Australia, 1977/78
- South Australia v Indians at Adelaide, 4-6 Nov 1977
- Victoria v Indians at Melbourne, 11-14 Nov 1977
- New South Wales v Indians at Sydney, 18-21 Nov 1977
- Queensland v Indians at Brisbane, 25-27 Nov 1977
- 1st Test: Australia v India at Brisbane, 2-6 Dec 1977
- Western Australia v Indians at Perth, 9-12 Dec 1977
- 2nd Test: Australia v India at Perth, 16-21 Dec 1977
- Tasmania v Indians at Launceston, 23 Dec 1977
- Tasmania v Indians at Hobart, 24-27 Dec 1977
- 3rd Test: Australia v India at Melbourne, 30 Dec 1977-4 Jan 1978
- 4th Test: Australia v India at Sydney, 7-12 Jan 1978
- Northern New South Wales v Indians at Newcastle, 14-16 Jan 1978
- 5th Test: Australia v India at Adelaide, 28 Jan-3 Feb 1978
There were as many as four games before the first Test. The first Test at Brisbane was preceded by a four-day match against the local state team Queensland in the same city (Brisbane). Similarly, when the teams travelled to Perth for the second Test, the Indians played a four-day game against the state team (Western Australia) in the same city (Perth). Even the fifth and final Test was preceded by a three-day game against Northern New South Wales, which isn't exactly a state team.
The idea behind these matches was for players from overseas getting fully acclimatized to local weather as well as pitches. The hosts would look to expose their best first-class players to international competition in return.
But gradually this trend has receded in the background. More and more teams prefer not to play first-class practice games overseas and simply launch themselves into international matches. With the plethora of bilateral white-ball series preceding a Test series, the preparation at best is out of sync. Jaiswal, Iyer, Prasidh and Gill realized this when they played T20Is/ODIs prior to the Tests in South Africa recently. The intra-squad game wasn't much of a contest, as Gavaskar has observed. Virat Kohli abstained from the game while runs scored by the likes of Gill and Jaiswal didn't help them face up to the South African quicks in back-to-back Tests. One can argue that despite not playing the intra-squad game, Kohli was India's best batsman. But then he is in a different class altogether, but his overall tally in the four innings is nowhere near his average.
The entire tour of 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests lasted less than four weeks. Compare this with India's itinerary in 1977-78 above when five Tests and first-class games were played over a three-month period.
With the increase in the number of formats, and the white-ball ones getting precedence, the schedules of teams are packed. Hence there isn't much time before a series to play first-class games. But if Test cricket has to survive and a team like India has to make its mark overseas, then enough space has to be made for such games.
The reluctance of teams to playing practice games overseas is often attributed to quality of pitches and opposition being not up to the mark. Fine. But by just feeling the conditions, players could do better than 'sitting at home', as has been advised by Gavaskar. The root cause lies elsewhere though. When was the last time Kohli and Rohit played a first-class game at home? The last first-class domestic matches played by Virat Kohli (Ranji Trophy, 2-5 November 2012, Delhi vs UP) and Rohit Sharma (Duleep Trophy, 10-14 September 2016, India Blue vs India Red) explains the trouble the Indian Test team is in. But it does highlight the fact that playing domestic cricket (except for IPL which is listed as a domestic tournament by the BCCI) is not on the agenda of established players. The BCCI goes by what the senior cricketers want. Very few Test players turn out for their state or zonal teams in domestic first-class cricket but only when they are returning from injury or are out of the team. The moment a player establishes himself in the team he starts avoiding first-class cricket, as Kohli and Rohit have done. Injury is also on their mind and hence they do not want to take a risk by playing first-class matches.
But can things change? Gavaskar has advised the Indian Test team to play at least a couple of first-class games in Australia before the Test series later this year by taking the ACB into confidence so that quality pitches and teams are made available. But will it really happen? The BCCI will schedule some odd white-ball series at home before the Test series, the Indian players will arrive in Australia ten days ahead and have net practice. By the time they play the first Test they would be feeling to get a grip on the conditions. And then there shall be a catch-up reaction. Well India might have won the last two Test series in Australia but there has to be a method not madness in their approach if India has to do well in Tests abroad.
