Team India locked down in Perth; strict restrictions imposed on Phone Usage

Team India have started preparing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the iconic WACA ground, in Perth. However, the stadium has been covered with tight security to prevent it from outside viewing.

It is believed that the Men in Blue secretly preparing hard for the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia. Among the players, Virat Kohli was the first player from the squad to reach the city. The rest of the team, including the support staff, has also reached Perth after Kohli's arrival.

Also read: Virat Kohli misses India's first nets session in Australia despite reaching first

Lockdown at WACA as India begin secret training camp

According to a report in The West Australian, the WACA ground in Perth is under strict lockdown to bar it from public viewing. Team India is believed to be secretly preparing for the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia.

The stadium was covered with nets and preparations had been made not to allow the information to go to the public and the media. Not only the public, there have been restrictions on the use of phones for the staff as well.

The team will go through a match simulation at the WACA Ground, Perth to prepare for the first Test, which will be played at the Optus Stadium in the same city. Earlier, India were slated to play a practice match against India A at the WACA ground.

Match simulation in place of practice match

But the decision was reversed later keeping in mind the less amount of time to prepare for the series. Skipper Rohit Sharma revealed the reason for the change in plans after their defeat to New Zealand in the second Test at Pune.

"Look, you know, rather than practice match, we planned a very match simulation kind of a thing with India A. I think sometimes when you play that practice match, we're traveling with a squad of 19 players and it was only three days that were allotted to us," Rohit had said.

"And I don't know how much workload we can get done in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared. All of us have been playing a lot of cricket. So it's just about spending time in the middle."

"So we, as a management as well, we feel that rather than having that, the match simulation where the batters can spend more time in the middle, batting in the middle, and then the bowlers as well can bowl a lot of balls, so that is something that, we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem," said Rohit.

The team management is looking to give the players more game time which is why they have opted for a match simulation rather than going for a practice match, in which a player cannot come back after getting out once.

India's Warm-up match after 1st Test

The first Test match will be played on November 22 at the Optus Stadium, Perth. After the first Test, the Men in Blue will play a warm-up match against the Prime Minister's XI to prepare for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

The next three Tests will be played in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney respectively. Rohit Sharma and his men need to win at least four matches of the series in order to confirm their qualification to the World Test Championship (WTC) final without depending on other results.