Australia vs India 2020-21: India Have Ample Time To Acclimatize Themselves In The Australian Conditions - Ian Chappell

Former Australian captain, Ian Chappell has opined that the Indian team has been provided more time to get accustomed to the Australian conditions than the teams which toured earlier.

The Indian team travelled directly to Australia from the UAE where the IPL was staged. They will have to go under a quarantine period before having match practice. The team will play 3 ODI and 3 T20Is before the Test series. Also, two practice matches are been sandwiched between the T20s and Tests.

Australia will host India for six limited-overs games and four Test matches. The 3-match ODI series commences on 27th November followed by 3 T20Is.

The much-awaited Border-Gavaskar series will begin on 17th December with a day-night Test in Adelaide followed by the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, New Year’s Test in Sydney, and the last Test match in Australia’s fortress, Brisbane. This means that Virat Kohli‘s team will be in Australia for over a month before the Test series will start.

The extra training period will help batsmen get accustomed to steep bounce: Ian Chappell

The Indian team is allowed to do training even under isolation which makes Ian Chappell say that the visitors have got enough time to adjust to the conditions. He observed that India will have more time to prepare for the Tets series than other previous touring teams have had.

India won their first Test series in Australia a couple of years ago largely on the back of Cheteshwar Pujara’s rich vein of form supported by the pace bowlers. Since then, Australia has defeated Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and New Zealand in their last three home Test series.

As quoted by ESPNCricinfo, Ian Chappell said, “This summer’s chaotic, pandemic-plagued Australian cricket schedule may just benefit India in their quest to repeat last tour’s series victory. India’s enforced period of lockdown – with training allowed – will provide the team more time to acclimatize in Australian conditions than the rushed pre-Test schedule that touring teams normally experience.”

The 77-year-old reckons the extra training period has given the Indian bowlers to find the correct length and the batsman to adjust themselves with the bounce for the Australian pitches.

Ian Chappell talked about how several visiting batsmen have struggled to score against short balls off their back foot. He said that not only the batsman has to survive against short stuff, but also try to score runs on the same, otherwise, the Aussie bowlers will keep testing the batter with the back of length deliveries.

Ian Chappell continued, “The extra training period during lockdown gives the bowlers ample opportunity to work out what length is applicable in Australia, and for the batsmen to become accustomed to the unusually steep bounce.”

A lot of touring batsmen have trouble in scoring sufficient runs off the back foot in Australia. It is not enough to just survive against short-pitched bowling in Australia, you also have to be able to score off those deliveries. Until a batsman proves he can make runs regularly against that style of attack, he will continue to be peppered with short stuff,” he added.

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