While most of the top teams that will be participating in the T20 World Cup, starting October 16th, were playing or preparing for bilateral or tri-series, Team India departed for Australia on October 6th – 17 days before their first match against Pakistan, which is on October 23 at the MCG.
Australia hosted West Indies and then England; Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh are playing a tri-series; South Africa are playing an ODI series against a second-string Indian team.
So, Team India’s early departure for Australia has got the fans curious.
Spilling the beans is strength and conditioning coach, Soham Desai. Desai, who also flew with the side to Australia, revealed in a recent training video of Indian players from the WACA stadium in Perth that the side will play a couple of unofficial warm-up matches against Western Australia XI at the WACA ground. The two warm-ups against the state host team are scheduled for October 10th and 13th.
After that, India will take on Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19 respectively at the The Gabba, Brisbane, for the tournament’s warm-up matches before the all-important clash against Pakistan at MCG on October 23.
“The upcoming 8-10 days are going to be very crucial for us, leading into the World Cup. We can’t thank the team management and the BCCI enough for getting us these 8 days because, we always feel we are thrust into the big tournaments, playing so much cricket as the Indian team. But these 8 days, we are going to gradually build ourselves both physically and on the skills front, to lead us nicely into the first game in the World Cup,” Desai said in a video uploaded by the BCCI.
“The goal in Perth specifically is to get some time on these pitches as well as to break the monotony of playing the bilateral series, back to back in India. So it’s going to be a good time for the group to unwind as well as build on the specific skills that are required for Australia. That’s the overall plan, leading into the World Cup,” he added.
#TeamIndia had a light training session yesterday at the WACA. Our strength and conditioning coach, Soham Desai gives us a lowdown on the preparations ahead of the @T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/oH1vuywqKW
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2022
