IND vs AUS 2023: Jonty Rhodes supports Australia’s decision of not playing practice game ahead of upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The South African legend, Jonty Rhodes has come in the support of Australia’s decision of not playing a practice match in India, ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series starting February 9. He also backed the statement by the Australian batter Steve Smith, who said ‘practice games in India are irrelevant’, and called it a ‘smart decision’ made by the visitors.

Australia have been practising in Bangalore ahead of the first Test in Nagpur. Earlier, Usman Khawaja also claimed that pitches used for warm-up games are different from the pitch used for the official matches. His statement was also supported by the former Australian Ian Healy. 

“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,” said Rhodes in an interview with Dainik Jagran.

“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," he further added.

Ahead of the big contest against Men in Blue, the Aussies have suffered a big blow in pacer Josh Hazlewood, who has been ruled out of the first two Tests due to medical reasons. The visitors are already going in the series without Mitchell Starc.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be crucial for both the sides in order to secure their spot in the World Test Championship final. India will have an upper hand as they are unbeaten in Test series at home since 2012 and won the previous three editions (2017, 2018-19, 2020-21) of the series against the Aussies. Meanwhile, the World No. 1 Test team will look to win a Test series against India after the 2014-15 edition.

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