India's performance at Lord's once again highlights the importance of preparation

[RedwoodOriginal]

For me, one thing that comes to mind that maybe behind Pakistan doing well in England in recent times is the preparation that India seem to neglect. In 2016, Pakistan spent 3 weeks practicing with the Dukes ball at the training camp in Lahore and arrived in England a month in advance. In 2017/18 all FC matches in Pakistan were played with the Dukes ball and even though Pakistan were playing 2 tests they arrived a month in advance and played more practice games (3) than the actual tests. India played 1 practice game before a 5 match test series and even that was shortened by a day.

I know India have been in England for a long time as well but playing limited-overs games on flat-pitches does not acclimatize you with the conditions.

Even Australia's example is something for India to learn from. Australia spent a significant amount of time in the UAE before their last tour of India, where they set up a training camp and practiced on pitches similar to the ones they would encounter in India and as a result Australia produced their best performance in India since 2004, looked so much better against spin and actually beat India on a rank-turner.

Pakistan themselves have not always taken preparation seriously. After the successful tour of England in 2016 they should have done the same for the tours of New Zealand and Australia (not that that would have made a difference in Australia anyway). But the way the Pakistani batsmen were batting in New Zealand showed most of all that they couldn't grapple with conditions at all.

All this ofcourse, highlights the importance of preparation that I think all teams should begin to realize. Back in the day there were an insane first-class matches before a tour. And now that the training and coaching methods have gotten so much more advanced teams should do everything they can do make sure they are properly prepared to battle the conditions. You can have all the ability, class, temperament in the world and it will go out the window if you are not prepared.

Ultimately, this is something for the boards to ponder most. I think many boards probably neglect this because of the extra cost that goes into setting a preparatory camp and arriving in a country early. But if any team, not just India is serious about winning overseas the boards, administrators, coaches need to take the initiative and focus on preparation.

 

[mkyawar]

According to Ravi Shastri, every gam is a home game of India. He thinks that mindset is important, result should be thrown out of the window. He also does not give two hoots about preparation and what other analysts say.

 

[Slim]

Not really, its not just about practise. Its about ability as well. If you dont have the ability, no practise can help you. India has been playing in these foreign conditions since forever and more than teams like Pakistan yet are an awful touring side. Also, lets not forget the fact that if practise was an issue first test would have been enough. It seems like a total excuse and sadly for indian fans, the only excuse that they can hold onto.

 

[hadi123]

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

 

[Romali_rotti]

Preparation?? For What ??? The cloud ???? Things out of the Indian teams control ???... This is ridiculous, ENG won the biggest weather lottery; whenever they were batting the cloud cover was gone but whenever India batted it was cloudy with stop starts through out the innings from rain.... This test was lost not because of Indians, it was purely on weather, first test India should have won but they just lost it due to carelessness and lack of application nothing more.....

 

[Abdullah719]

As mentioned above, it was all a coincidence. India is set to win the series 3-2.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Preparation?? For What ??? The cloud ???? Things out of the Indian teams control ???... This is ridiculous, ENG won the biggest weather lottery; whenever they were batting the cloud cover was gone but whenever India batted it was cloudy with stop starts through out the innings from rain.... This test was lost not because of Indians, it was purely on weather, first test India should have won but they just lost it due to carelessness and lack of application nothing more.....

Keep believing that. Won't help you win a series overseas though.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

According to Ravi Shastri, every gam is a home game of India. He thinks that mindset is important, result should be thrown out of the window. He also does not give two hoots about preparation and what other analysts say.

Ravi Shastri will make a killing as a motivational speaker after he is sacked as Kohli's cheerleader/Yes Man

 

[Pete Rose]

Preparation?? For What ??? The cloud ???? Things out of the Indian teams control ???... This is ridiculous, ENG won the biggest weather lottery; whenever they were batting the cloud cover was gone but whenever India batted it was cloudy with stop starts through out the innings from rain.... This test was lost not because of Indians, it was purely on weather, first test India should have won but they just lost it due to carelessness and lack of application nothing more.....

This weather lottery theory would have been valid if this were the only test match played, but as you pointed out they also managed to lose the first test match.
I do think the preparation matters, by my question to the OP would be why did Pakistan lose in 2.5 days in the second game after winning at Lord’s so comprehensively.

 

[Pete Rose]

Ravi Shastri will make a killing as a motivational speaker after he is sacked as Kohli's cheerleader/Yes Man

Ravi Shastri is basically a louder version of Harsha Bholge: platitudes galore

 

[barah_admi]

For me, one thing that comes to mind that maybe behind Pakistan doing well in England in recent times is the preparation that India seem to neglect. In 2016, Pakistan spent 3 weeks practicing with the Dukes ball at the training camp in Lahore and arrived in England a month in advance. In 2017/18 all FC matches in Pakistan were played with the Dukes ball and even though Pakistan were playing 2 tests they arrived a month in advance and played more practice games (3) than the actual tests. India played 1 practice game before a 5 match test series and even that was shortened by a day.

I know India have been in England for a long time as well but playing limited-overs games on flat-pitches does not acclimatize you with the conditions.

Even Australia's example is something for India to learn from. Australia spent a significant amount of time in the UAE before their last tour of India, where they set up a training camp and practiced on pitches similar to the ones they would encounter in India and as a result Australia produced their best performance in India since 2004, looked so much better against spin and actually beat India on a rank-turner.

Pakistan themselves have not always taken preparation seriously. After the successful tour of England in 2016 they should have done the same for the tours of New Zealand and Australia (not that that would have made a difference in Australia anyway). But the way the Pakistani batsmen were batting in New Zealand showed most of all that they couldn't grapple with conditions at all.

All this ofcourse, highlights the importance of preparation that I think all teams should begin to realize. Back in the day there were an insane first-class matches before a tour. And now that the training and coaching methods have gotten so much more advanced teams should do everything they can do make sure they are properly prepared to battle the conditions. You can have all the ability, class, temperament in the world and it will go out the window if you are not prepared.

Ultimately, this is something for the boards to ponder most. I think many boards probably neglect this because of the extra cost that goes into setting a preparatory camp and arriving in a country early. But if any team, not just India is serious about winning overseas the boards, administrators, coaches need to take the initiative and focus on preparation.

This is not a good enough excuse anymore. India played an entire ODI series here and yes, it is a different format but they hsould have been used to the weather, conditions, grounds and players by now. It is pathetic to keep lauding lack of preparation as an excuse but avoiding the big issue, India's so called superstars do not perform. The batting is filled with flat track bullies, Kohli once again succumbed to the slightest bit of grass and seam and the bowlers ,who have done OK, have to be able to do more.

It is a poor side.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Keep believing that. Won't help you win a series overseas though.

“…things fell our way: winning the toss, overcast the first day and a bit clear on the second day when we batted. There wasn’t as much swing the second day but some movement off the wicket, which is difficult to handle. Then it started to swing a little bit again.

“Certainly the conditions were in our favour but we’ve been to other parts of the world where you lose the toss and you’ve got to deal with it. I would like the conditions to be in our favour every single time,” he said.

https://www.thestatesman.com/sports...-defence-of-indian-teams-prep-1502673089.html

Coming from England coach, I am telling reality....

 

[PakLFC]

How much preparation time does a team need? Perhaps they should have cancelled the meaningless Bangladesh tour after the IPL that would have helped them. Kohli getting injured thus unable to play country Cricket could possibly have handicapped them further. All in all their team simply can't play in seaming and swinging conditions..