New Delhi: Former captain Sunil Gavaskar today came down hard on Indian cricketers, who had skipped practice sessions during the ongoing Test series against Australia, saying they have not gone there for “sightseeing but to play cricket”.
Gavaskar was critical of some of the Indian players’ “attitude” towards practice, which he said was one of the reasons for the visitors’ humiliating losses in the first two Tests of the four-match series.
“Christmas is big in Australia and it’s understandable for Australian players taking off after first Test. But what were our players doing? Why were not they doing practice? Have they gone there for sightseeing or play cricket?” asked a furious Gavaskar.
“The first Test ended on the fourth day and it’s OK they took off on the fifth day but why don’t they do practice after that. I don’t know what is the attitude of the players. While on tour they should practice, practice and practice to have in proper frame of mind to be competitive. Why nobody is asking questions? These questions should be asked,” he said.
Australia took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series after defeating India by an innings and 68 runs in Sydney today. The visitors had earlier lost the series opener in Melbourne by a huge 122 runs.
The former India skipper also criticised the Cricket Board (BCCI) for not including tour games in between the four Test matches.
“It’s OK you have two practice matches before the start of the series. But why not in between second and third Test in Perth. There is a week in between second and third Test and no tour game is there. There is another seven days in between third and fourth Test and no practice game is planned,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
“If the (BCCI) technical committee is not taken into confidence when the fixture is planned what is the point of having the committee,” he fumed.
Gavaskar said that the home series against the West Indies should have been planned in reverse order with the ODIs held first before the Test matches so that the players go to Australia in Test cricket mode.
“We played too much of limited over cricket. We play in slow and low pitches whereas in Australia the pitches are very hard. It’s not easy to adjust from playing on frontfoot to playing at backfoot,” he said. (PTI)