BGT: No practice game for India ahead of Perth Test as BCCI scraps intra-squad match at WACA

Instead, the board has decided that the team will train during that window, including net sessions at the venue.

India vs India-A was supposed to be a closed-door warm-up game per BCCI’s request, but with the Indian Cricket Board changing plans at the last moment, the team will continue training as they eye record a third successive Test series win Down Under.

 On the other hand, Australia will train at the venue after India’s stint in an important preparatory camp for some players who haven’t played red-ball cricket lately.

Australia batting great Steve Smith also noted how crucial this training session would be at the centre wicket at WACA, which will have conditions similar to the ones at the Optus Stadium, the venue for the first match.

“Going to be some good centre wickets with our boys bowling in Perth, in similar conditions to what you’re going to get at Optus Stadium. [It’s] probably going to be enough,” Steven Smith recently said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, the BCCI had earlier decided that India would play an intra-squad match instead of playing a practice match against one of Australia’s domestic sides. While the touring Indian Test team played a three-day tie against Australia-A ahead of their previous tour in 2020/21, they played a four-day game against Cricket Australia XI ahead of the 2018/19 series.

Indian Team to fly Down Under

Per the latest reports, the Indian Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will depart shortly after the conclusion of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand on November 5.

Here’s India’s 18-man squad for Australia Tests –

Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar