Test cricket is the ultimate test of prowess for any cricketer and establishing superiority in a Test series is paramount to any Test playing nation and that made preparation for a Test series conspicuous and attracted media attention. Ashes series was always considered as the best Test series in the world but ever since the Australian juggernaut’s dream run was stopped by the Indians under Saurav Ganguly aided by the memorable performances of Harbhajan Singh, Laxman and Dravid in 2001, India vs Australia Test series started grabbing more media attention.

Australian media’s psychological attack on visiting captain is well known. Verbal attacks by players, dishing out the toughest conditions to the visiting team on the first Test of the series are all, well known Australian techniques. Australian captain Steve Waugh forced to wait by the delayed arrival of Indian captain Saurav Ganguly for the toss in a Test match grabbed more media attention as a counterattack by India than as a Saurav Ganguly blunder. Practising with Kookaburra balls on concrete pitches in India for an Australian tour and with SG balls on scuffed pitches in Australia for an Indian tour became a norm.

A Test series always dished out opportunities to fringe players through practise matches before and in between Test matches to make a claim for a place in the playing eleven. These matches allowed visiting players to get accustomed to the conditions and iron out their flaws with techniques. In pre computer era, these matches were very important and a loss for a visiting team was considered a psychological victory for the host. Hence the best available players were included in the team to meet the visiting teams. For example, Ranji trophy champions, Board Presidents XI comprising of upcoming players in India, played against visiting teams.

But the same preparation techniques made these practise matches irrelevant with the advent of time as host countries started dishing out flat pitches and substandard opposition. For example, the visiting Indian team was made to play a practise match against a weak team on a flat pitch before the first Test played on a bouncy pitch. Also, opportunities for the players to play abroad in various leagues along with computer aided technology to help preparation made visiting teams oppose the plan for practise matches, making them a part of history.

Those who oppose practise matches, cite injury to key players before crucial matches, waste of time and energy, playing inconsequential matches as some for the reasons for their stand, and those who argue for practise matches remind the fact that match practise can’t replace long hours of net practise and historical records of many confidence building performances in practise matches. Australian technique of practising in scuffed pitches in Australia and batting against bowlers mimicking Ashwin, may sound interesting for the new generation cricket lovers, but for the old timers, this is nothing new as Sachin Tendulkar had sought the help of commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan to bowl on the rough patch created on the leg side as a preparation to counter Shane Warne, years back.

Whether good or bad to discard practise matches, it is the choice of visiting teams, but for the spectators and connoisseurs of cricket, the visiting Australian team’s decision to do away with practise matches is a big let-down. Having seen the psychological impact created by Amit Pagnis and Sachin Tendulkar with their attacking batting for Mumbai against Shane Warne in 1998 and the spin dominance by Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule for Mumbai against Australian batsmen in 2001 before the Test series, I wonder what impact a similar performance by our youngsters on wait list will have on this visiting Australian team. Looks like Australians have played safe by avoiding practise matches in India.