India decided to cancel their only warm-up fixture before the coming Border Gavaskar Trophy, opting for more time in the nets and middle-wicket practice in an intra-squad match at the WACA Stadium in Perth -- a decision that was questioned by a number of pundits and former cricketers, including the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
However, India's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar stated that the visitors got all they needed from the three-day match stimulation ahead of the marquee five-Test series, which begins on November 22.
While the first Test is slated to take place in Perth’s Optus Stadium, the Indian team had closed-door practice sessions at the old WACA Ground.
"Just before we came to Australia, Gauti bhai (head coach Gautam Gambhir), Rohit (Sharma), we had a discussion on what we wanted out of these three days. The idea was to try and make sure that for the younger and experienced guys to give them a lot of time in the centre, to adapt, to understand conditions."
"We are coming and playing Test cricket (in Australia) after four years. So, initially, we got the guys to come in and had it like a game where you are done once you get out. But then we tried to give them another chance the second time around."
"We felt that the second time around the guys adapted better, they understood the conditions better, and were a lot more comfortable. We got what we wanted out of it," said Nayar in a video posted by BCCI on 'X'.
Moreover, Nayar explained how the Indian bowlers received their bowling workloads during match stimulations.
"Day two was quite similar, we were using the facilities outside, getting the nets in and getting the quality and quantity down in the center."
"It was also about our bowlers coming in and bowling spells, getting up the workloads and bowling 15 overs each. Boom (Jasprit Bumrah) bowled 18 (overs), a couple others bowled 18 (overs). So it was just about getting the guys into game sense," Nayar stated.
India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel expressed his satisfaction with the bowlers' performance during practice.
"They summed up conditions very well. We are on track for the 22nd (November). Another three training sessions left. We'll sit down this afternoon or tomorrow and start planning, looking at game plans and how we are going to bring out the best in each and everyone for game time on the 22nd," Morkel remarked.
The first Test will be followed by the pink-ball day-night Test in Adelaide (December 6-10), after which the series will move to Brisbane (December 14-18) for the third match of the series. Melbourne will host the traditional Boxing Day Test from December 26-30, while the New Year Test will be played in Sydney from January 3-7.
