'Australians Are Thirsting For Revenge': Batting Legend's 'Razor Sharp' Warning to India After 'Disappointing' News on Tour Game

India will be in Australia for a five-match Test series, aiming for a hat-rick of away series win this time around. In their previous two Test tours of the country, India have returned victorious.

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Like the last tour, India will play one day-night Test in Adelaide and to gear up for the fixture, the two teams will play in a two-day warm-up game which has been slotted between the first and second Test.

The fixture between the touring India and the Prime Minister’s XI will also be a day-night affair but batting legend Sunil Gavaskar says it should have been a full-fledged first-class contest.

“The news that the regular match for touring teams against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI has been reduced to a 2-day game is a disappointing one,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the mid-day.

Gavaskar says while he understands that the senior players who will play a major role in the five-match series can be rested, the rest of the squad could have benefitted from such a fixture.

“By all means, rest the seniors and let them not even travel to Canberra for the game but give the newer younger players a proper first-class game rather than a 2-day game which will be neither here nor there. After all, the team are going there to play cricket and not to take rest,” he said.

Gavaskar says there’s plenty of time for the BCCI to get the match changed to a three-day affair which will come in handy for the inexperienced players of India’s touring party.

“The Australians are thirsting for revenge and the Indians will have to be razor sharp to get a hat-trick of series wins there,” Gavaskar wrote.

“There’s still time to change it to a 3-day game and give the younger inexperienced players a better chance to succeed against the World Test Champions. C’mon BCCI, you can do it,” he added.

In the lead up to the tour though, an India A team will take on Australia A in a couple of four-day matches. The first of those games will be held from October 31 to November 1 at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay while the next at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

After the end of the A series, the Indian Test team will also face the India A squad from November 15-17 in Perth for an intra-squad match.