‘Australia took a very smart decision’: Jonty Rhodes defends Steve Smith's 'practice match in India irrelevant’ claim
Ahead of the series, the discussion has revolved around the pitches, with Australia deciding not to play a single warm-up tie ahead of the official matches.
After starting the year with back-to-back series wins over Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Team India are ready for their next assignment, which is the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scheduled to start from February 9 in Nagpur. The series will be crucial from India's perspective, which if they win will also help them consolidate a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) finals.
Australia are currently ranked one in the longer format and they also sit on the top of the WTC points table. India, on the other hand, are placed second.
Ahead of the series, the discussion has revolved around the pitches, with the tourists deciding not to play a single warm-up tie ahead of the official matches. It all started with Australia batter Usman Khawaja claiming that the pitches used for the warm-up games and the official matches being different, which was backed by former wicketkeeper Ian Healy.
The matter intensified as former Australia captain Steve Smith also echoed similar views, calling the practice matches as “irrelevant”.
When asked about the same to Jonty Rhodes, the legendary South Africa cricketer agreed with Smith's opinion and called it to be “very smart decision” by Australia.
“I've seen the practice pitches in India and it has a lot of footmarks. The main pitch is used for training purpose. These days all the teams play a lot of cricket and turning tracks are not limited to India. It is important how much time you spend there and how much you prepare, this helps you adapt to the conditions.
“I understand what (Steve) Smith wanted to say. He knows the practice pitches will be greener and match will be played on the training pitch and Australia took a very smart decision. Players are playing all around the world and they have evolved into smart cricketers."
“Both the sides will engage in an exciting Test series," Rhodes told Dainik Jagran in an exclusive interview.
India and Australia will play four Tests. The first encounter will be played in Nagpur, before the action moves to New Delhi. The following two encounters will be played in Dharamshala and Ahmedabad.
Ahead of the blockbuster encounter, Australia endured a major blow as Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out due to an injury. Apart from him, the Kangaroos will also miss the services of Mitchell Starc.