New Delhi: Not really impressed with the preparation that India will have going into the Test series against Australia, former captain Sourav Ganguly today said a couple of two-day practice games are just not enough.
India will start the Test series against Australia on December 4 and play two practice games before that.
“The key to doing well in places like Australia is the preparation before the Test series starts and not between the matches. I am not happy with India's schedule of two two-day games ahead of first Test match,” Ganguly said during a panel discussion at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
“This effectively means that you will get only two innings to prepare yourself for the first Test which I don't think is ideal. Even someone like Virat Kohli would like to get at least four innings to prepare himself,” he added.
Ganguly, India's most successful captain in overseas Test matches, recollected his time when India batted well during that phase.
“If you look at the Oval Test match few months back, we batted some 42 odd covers in the first innings and some 25 odd covers in the second innings. In Brisbane back in 2004, Australia made 323 and we responded with a 450 odd total. In Adelaide, we scored 550 and 700 in Sydney.
“At Headingley in 2002, we scored in excess of 600 runs. In that team, we had Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman. They were not loud people but always would give you that feeling of quiet confidence that we can do well,” he said.
Ganguly said he doesn't see any change in Indian captaincy till the World Cup and that should be the way to go.
“I don't see any change in captaincy till World Cup and also it should be like that. Yes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni should be concerned about his overseas Test record because it's something that he will have to live with. But I don't think that Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy should be compared.
“We captained teams in different eras. But just like I had the tag of being captain who list tri- series final, Champions Trophy final, World Cup final, Dhoni has had a lot of success in major finals,” the elegant left-hander said.
