Suresh Raina has expressed being surprised by the Australian team's decision to opt for simulation training rather than play warm-up games ahead of the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, beginning on February 9.
The Australian team is currently busy practicing at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. All the players of the visiting team have been seen sweating it out on the nets at this venue since Thursday.
Raina, one of India's former Test players feels that Australia might have missed a trick.
"I have played practice matches (ahead of Tests) and they are really important. They (Australia) can understand the quality of pitches in India only if they play on them," Raina told PTI.
Raina is confident that India will do well in the four-Test series and Ravindra Jadeja's comeback will add fine balance to the squad.
"I am happy with Jadeja's comeback after a long time," said the southpaw.
"Our spinners R Ashwin, and Axar Patel are doing well. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been in good form and I think we will get to watch an interesting series in the coming days."
He however didn't want to predict the outcome of the series.
"Let it begin first. A Test match should be five-day long. I will only comment (on performance) after watching the first day and seeing the focus of players."
Raina is very happy that there is so much competition for places in the national team across formats.
"It is an achievement (that many are worthy of a place in the Indian team). When there is such a competition we will get the best performance from the players."
Result of the previous three editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
- 2016-17 (Played in India) - India won
- 2018-19 (Played in Australia) - India won
- 2020-21 (Played in Australia) - India wo
