File photo of Indian cricket team.© AFP
Stung by the massive defeats against New Zealand and Australia, the BCCI has decided to organise three four-day matches in the UK ahead of the Test matches against England to give the players an opportunity to get a feel of red-ball cricket. The dates and venues of the matches against England Lions are yet to be fixed but they will take place in the UK after the IPL final on May 25, as the tour begins with the first Test at Leeds on June 20.
The board feels the preparatory series is essential to India’s chances against England after the team went down 0-3 against the Kiwis at home and 1-3 to the Aussies away.
“We had a similar ‘A’ tour to Australia ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. These matches will help players to come to terms with English conditions and, also, a chance for them to play red-ball cricket after some time,” a source in the BCCI told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Some of the frontline Indian players such as Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal etc are preparing for the Ranji Trophy matches, which are re-starting from January 23.
However, a few of them will be able to play only one round of the remaining two rounds of the Ranji Trophy as the white-ball series against England will start at Kolkata on January 22 with the T20Is followed by the ODIs.
The focus has shifted to star Indian batters’ appearance in the domestic cricket after most of them, including veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, endured a dismal series Down Under.
“We don’t have too many red-ball matches now as the IPL will start soon after the series against England. It’s not wise to send the squad to an important series without proper preparation as England is generally a tough place for batters because of the conditions,” he said.
It may be recalled that some of the young Indian players such as Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel and Prasidh Krishna had impressive outings against the Lions earlier last year ahead of the home series against England.
All of them played in the subsequent series against England, New Zealand and Australia.
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