Gavaskar Not Impressed With the Way India Is Planning For Third Test

Former legendary Indian opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar has always been known for his forthright views and now he says that India should be smarter in the way they plan for the third Test.

Cricket news: It seems that the team is in love with London, says Sunil Gavaskar

India put up a tough fight but lost the first Test at Edgbaston by 31 runs. However in the second Test, they were totally outclassed by the Brits as they succumbed to a defeat by an innings and 159 runs.

India needs to avoid a defeat in the third Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham if they need to stay alive in the five-match Test series as currently they are 0-2 down.

Gavaskar has always been in favour of practice matches before the commencement of a series and this time also he questioned about the absence of adequate warmup games ahead of the schedule.

The Men in Blue has been England for over a month and half now. After the ODI and T20I series they just played a three-day warmup game before the first Test.

Gavaskar wanted the team to reach Nottingham as early as possible before the third Test commences on August 18. But the team had decided to travel on August 15 leaving just two days in hand before the all-important game begins, which has left Gavaskar unconvinced.

“I can understand they have taken the day off today… they are still licking the wounds of the defeat at Lord’s but they should have been planning to leave for Nottingham after today which would have been the last day of the Lord’s Test and practice from tomorrow,” the former cricketer Gavaskar told India Today.

“But clearly as we have seen from the start of the ODI series, they are in love with London. You cannot get practice facilities in London as easily as you would in Nottingham – I hope they practice from Tuesday. And there should be no optional practice. Everybody needs to get down to practice There’s no such thing as optional practice when you are 0-2 down,” Gavaskar said.

“You don’t just need net practice but practice matches also. One should strive for practice games between third and fourth Test as well when there is space. There may possibly be some new players coming in after third Test and they need some practice time as well. These things have to be thought about. I have been saying this since January when the South Africa tour was lost. But perhaps we are old fashioned, who don’t understand modern day cricket,” he stated.