“Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji games?” – Gavaskar questions India’s preparation for Tests

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has questioned India’s preparation for the upcoming five-match Test series against England. Gavaskar reckons it would have made more sense if India’s Test specialists had played for their respective states in the Ranji trophy rather than play against Afghanistan in T20I series.

Gavaskar noted that barring Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, all the Indian batters had a forgettable tour of South Africa, where the pitches were challenging. Recently Shreyas Iyer, who was not picked for Afghanistan T20Is, scored 48 runs for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match against Andhra.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul scored a gutsy century in the opening Test match against South Africa whereas Kohli scored a total of 172 runs in two Test matches at an average of 43.

“Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji Trophy games to tune themselves for the Test series against England? Apart from KL Rahul, who scored one of the finest Test centuries seen in the first Test match in Centurion, and Virat Kohli, who batted well without quite getting to a century, the other Indian batters had a forgettable four innings in South Africa,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

“We will, of course, see in the coming weeks whether they should have played the T20 internationals against Afghanistan or a Ranji Trophy game,” Gavaskar added

The former Indian opener also feels bringing back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan made little sense. The experienced duo made a return to the T20I format after a long gap of 14 months.

“Bringing back Rohit Sharma and Kohli for the three-match series against Afghanistan made little sense, and the manner in which the skipper got out to the first ball he faced in the second game made one wonder if he is even interested in being out there. Having gotten run out for a duck in the first game, it was expected that Rohit would look to get some runs in the second,” Gavaskar wrote.

“Instead, he played a forgettable shot to the first ball he faced and was back warming the cold bench in the changing room, watching two youngsters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, toy with the Afghanistan bowling attack,” Gavaskar concluded.

India and England will take on each other in the first Test match from 25th January onwards at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.