IND vs AUS 2022-23: Ian Healy hits out at host nations for denying quality preparation for touring sides
IND vs AUS 2022-23: Australia has arrived in India for four Tests. However, the tourists would not be playing any warm-up matches ahead of the series, and Ian Healy has hit out at the host nations for denying quality preparation as a reason for it.
FollowLegendary Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy has taken a potshot at India, saying the idea behind Pat Cummins' side not opting to play a tour match in the subcontinent ahead of the Test series is because "we no longer trust" the quality preparations provided by the host nation. Australia will not be playing a single tour fixture ahead of the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A squad member, Usman Khawaja, recently said there was no point in playing practice contests as the wickets prepared for such games and actual matches in India were very different.
"Have you ever been pre-tour with us [Australia]? They can be spinning wickets when we play, but we go to the practice matches, and they are green Gabba-like wickets out there [in India], so what's the point," Khawaja had declared during a press conference earlier this month. Healy endowed Khawaja's recommendation, expressing that it was an acceptable idea to construct the touring party spinners in Sydney ahead of the tour to acclimate them to replica India pitches.
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"We've gathered our spinners in Sydney for strategic talks [on replica India surfaces]. We no longer trust that the requested facilities will be provided for a nation. We've been part of this shenanigan, too, by the way. When we're over [in England], we spend our time whinging about weakened County teams that England put up as our opposition before the series," Healy told SEN Radio on Monday.
Healy enunciated that he doesn't like the direction of home boards readying different sets of wickets for tour matches and actual games, adding that it amounts to an infringement of "trust". "Our focus in cricket has shifted from creating opportunities and experiences for our best up-and-coming cricketers. Now, we deny touring teams' quality preparation before a highly anticipated series, and I'm not too fond of it. It's disappointing to watch such the dismantling of trust between cricket's nations, and it needs to stop," added Healy.
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Australia begins its Test series versus India in Nagpur on February 9, and Khawaja had said recently that it was a "good idea" not to play tour games, indicating they serve little purpose. "We have finally learned. When I heard we weren't going to have a practice game, I went up to [head coach] Andrew McDonald and said, 'Good idea'," Khawaja had said recently.
Australia last won a Test series in India in 2004-05 and is keen to turn around its fortunes in the subcontinent during the forthcoming tour. "Touring teams seem to all struggle these days, and here we go again, we're going to India without a lot of Indian practice under our belts, let alone England later in the year where we haven't won since 2001," Healy added.
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Healy, however, stated that a tour game midway through the Test series would be a fair argument to give the touring party's seven reserves some match preparation. "In India, they're [Australia] hoping everything will click and the squad freshens up with net practice. Our coaching staff are content with this, and I'll trust them for now. However, I would like to see a tour match between India's second and third Test. I'd love to see a three-day game so that our seven reserves [in the 18-man squad] we've got over there can have a good hit out," Healy concluded.
(With inputs from PTI)
