India’s head coach and former batsman Gautam Gambhir has challenged Australia to prepare any kind of wickets, as he asserts that the Indian Test squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) has “all bases covered” to counter “any kind of wicket”.
India will take on Australia in the five-match series for the BGT beginning November 22 in Perth.
Ahead of his departure for Australia on Monday with the second batch of Indian players, Gambhir said the nature of the pitches prepared by Australia for the series is something India are prepared to tackle.
“We don’t control the wickets, we are ready for any kind of wicket. It’s their wish whatever they want to give. We are ready for any kind of condition and our bases are covered,” Gambhir stated, as quoted by ANI. “If we play cricket to our best potential, then we can beat them.”
India will touch down in Australia 10 days before the start of the first Test, which gives the team a good amount of time to acclimatize and practice on the bouncy nature of the pitches in Perth.
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India have cancelled their practice match against India A in order to get more time in the nets. They are scheduled to train at the WACA. The match will be played at the Optus Stadium.
“I think 10 days, if we can get good, proper preparation before the start of the series, I think we’re going to be in really good shape. We’ve got a lot of experienced players who’ve been to Australia a lot many times. So their experience will come in handy for the young players as well,” Gambhir said.
“I’m sure these 10 days are going to be very crucial. Come the 22nd morning, I think we should be absolutely ready and ready to fire from ball one,” the head coach added.
India haven’t had the ideal preparation in run-up to the BGT, having been whitewashed 0-3 in the home Test series against New Zealand and seniors like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma out of form.