ENG vs IND 2018: Sunil Gavaskar criticizes BCCI's tour planning for the Indian Cricket Team

India's planning and preparation for overseas Test tours has been a long standing issue.

Sunil Gavaskar (Getty)

Former Indian batsman and legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar has said that India's planning and preparation before arriving on English shores were flawed and has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to improve their decision making whenever India travels abroad. 

Even though India arrived a month before the Test series started, Virat Kohli's men played eight limited overs games but just one 3-day warm-up game against Essex before the Edgbaston Test. Gavaskar has reiterated that there is a huge difference between cricket that is played with the white Kookaburra on flat pitches and the one that is with red Dukes in swing and seam conducive conditions. India is an all conditions force with the former, they needed to prepare more for the later. 

"I had said this in January during the South Africa series, that we will have to prepare for England better. There should be matches in the fourteen days between limited-overs and Test series. There is also a gap between the third and fourth Test of eight days that's when we should have a three-day practice game," said Gavaskar on Aaj Tak and added, "If you are playing at home and make mistakes, there is still room for a comeback. But overseas, whether it is South Africa or England, you have to work that much harder," 

Gavaskar also went onto say that the tussle between BCCI and COA didn't help the situation and suggested that the opinion of Cricket Advisory Committee must be sought in such matters. 

He said, "These are decisions BCCI should have taken. The problem here is currently in BCCI no one knows who is there to make decisions," and added, "These decisions should have been left to Cricket Advisory Committee [Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman], which it appears is a disbanded unit because no one is asking them anything. You can't rely on team opinion alone because they may have their own reasons. You also need an outside perspective," 

"I could have understood you wanted to take a break between third and fourth Test match because you have had three intense matches but when you are losing, you need to play these matches. When you have an eighteen-member squad, seven of your players are not playing any matches. Let them at least play. Also, four or five others who are out of form can get a chance to work on their game. It can happen even now. If you ask the ECB to get a county to play with you, there can still be a practice match between two Tests when there is a break," Gavaskar concluded. 

(Inputs from India Today)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 12 Aug, 2018

    Share Via