Indian cricket team batter Sarfaraz Khan struggled massively during the practice session at Perth ahead of the first Test match against Australia, starting November 22, according to a report by The West Australian. The Indian cricketers started their practice at the WACA ground in Perth and proper net sessions were held for all the batters. The report said that Sarfaraz looked like a “batter who hasn’t played outside of the subcontinent” as he struggled to deal with the bounce of the pitch. He was bothered by short balls and he was guilty of chopping balls outside his off-stump onto the wickets.
As India have officially begun their preparations for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Perth, reportedly training behind closed doors on Wednesday at the WACA, Australian great Ian Healy thinks that tourists are making a mistake by opting for total privacy as he believes it can create an unhappy touring squad.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald report, security guards covered the outside of the WACA nets with a black tarp to prevent eyes from watching India’s preparations. It also claimed that construction workers at the WACA were even told, via an email, that they weren’t allowed to take photos or be seen catching a peek of training while on break.
“During all training sessions, please do not take any photos or videos or fly any drones over the training sessions and please do not sit and watch the sessions,” the masthead quoted the email sent to WACA workers.
“India is now doing in Australia what Australia used to do in India, Pakistan and sometimes Sri Lanka – just not embracing the whole experience and the early media,” Healy told SENQ Breakfast.
“If you sort of open yourself to media opportunities and do them and meet the Australian public and the many Indians that are out here – it goes a long way to a much happier tour. There are extra reasons why India locked themselves away, we just cannot imagine the clambering throng that they have to cope with day in, day out.
“So maybe training is their safe space, and they’ve got to get a fair few things done and they want to do it away from the prying eyes. With social media, cricket in India is 1000 times more serious than in Australia,” he said.
(With IANS inputs)
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