Well begun is half done; and well prepared is more than half the battle won, team India will certainly do well to pay heed and a lot more besides before they embark upon the make or break tour to South Africa sometime in November this year.......
Team India has a far from sterling or awe inspiring record on South African soil and this extended tour does certainly provide them with a golden opportunity of making amends and setting the record straight once and for all; all it calls for is some astute planning, foresight and copious amounts of blood, sweat and tears........
BCCI mandarins and the team's think tank would do well by organising a three week long preparatory camp in the salubrious and bracing climes of Dharamshala as this is the only Indian city that comes closest to replicating the somewhat rarefied atmosphere of most South African grounds especially those in the high veld and boasts of the only pacer friendly surface in the country apart from Mohali........
Team India would do well to get Umesh Yadav as well as Varun Aaron fit and raring to go simply because they are the only two gentlemen in the country who are eminently capable of delivering the red cherry consistently at speeds in excess of 145 kmph and this exemplary quality will certainly prove to be worth it's weight in gold on the fast and furious South African pitches.........
The provision of a minimum of five to six bowling machines and a barrage of short pitched or then chin friendly balls delivered at breakneck speeds with the aid of these machines would be the next step in preparing our young batsmen for this rather arduous tour, the South Africans have already signalled their intentions of unleashing their fearsome pace battery on the seemingly hapless Indian batsmen and the very same would do well by being prepared for this onslaught by raw pace.......
Last but not the least, rope in the services of Messrs. Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, Mohinder Bharadwaj Amarnath, Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar and Rahul Sharad Dravid as these are the only four Indian batsmen to have handled the short ball with a modicum of comfort and aplomb in the last two decades and more, the youngsters in the Indian ranks would do well to pick the brains of these illustrious sons of the soil and therefore gain valuable insights into the art of facing a ball that gets up to your chin and even beyond with nauseating regularity........
Most people might call yours truly an alarmist and cite the fact that this tour is almost a good six months away, but the fact of the matter is that the Indian test team is not playing any test cricket between now and the beginning of the South African tour and a prolonged period of playing the shorter versions of the game day in and day out for the better part of six months is far from ideal preparation for a make or break tour......
Sorry for being rather rude and direct, but the fact of the matter is that we only have two choices; practice and prepare rather than repent and repair and the choice between the two is crystal clear as far as I am concerned........
Team India has a far from sterling or awe inspiring record on South African soil and this extended tour does certainly provide them with a golden opportunity of making amends and setting the record straight once and for all; all it calls for is some astute planning, foresight and copious amounts of blood, sweat and tears........
BCCI mandarins and the team's think tank would do well by organising a three week long preparatory camp in the salubrious and bracing climes of Dharamshala as this is the only Indian city that comes closest to replicating the somewhat rarefied atmosphere of most South African grounds especially those in the high veld and boasts of the only pacer friendly surface in the country apart from Mohali........
Team India would do well to get Umesh Yadav as well as Varun Aaron fit and raring to go simply because they are the only two gentlemen in the country who are eminently capable of delivering the red cherry consistently at speeds in excess of 145 kmph and this exemplary quality will certainly prove to be worth it's weight in gold on the fast and furious South African pitches.........
The provision of a minimum of five to six bowling machines and a barrage of short pitched or then chin friendly balls delivered at breakneck speeds with the aid of these machines would be the next step in preparing our young batsmen for this rather arduous tour, the South Africans have already signalled their intentions of unleashing their fearsome pace battery on the seemingly hapless Indian batsmen and the very same would do well by being prepared for this onslaught by raw pace.......
Last but not the least, rope in the services of Messrs. Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, Mohinder Bharadwaj Amarnath, Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar and Rahul Sharad Dravid as these are the only four Indian batsmen to have handled the short ball with a modicum of comfort and aplomb in the last two decades and more, the youngsters in the Indian ranks would do well to pick the brains of these illustrious sons of the soil and therefore gain valuable insights into the art of facing a ball that gets up to your chin and even beyond with nauseating regularity........
Most people might call yours truly an alarmist and cite the fact that this tour is almost a good six months away, but the fact of the matter is that the Indian test team is not playing any test cricket between now and the beginning of the South African tour and a prolonged period of playing the shorter versions of the game day in and day out for the better part of six months is far from ideal preparation for a make or break tour......
Sorry for being rather rude and direct, but the fact of the matter is that we only have two choices; practice and prepare rather than repent and repair and the choice between the two is crystal clear as far as I am concerned........
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