Cricket fans around the world are licking their lips in anticipation of watching India's red-ball series against Australia - the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The four-match Test series between India and Australia kicks off on February 09 with the first game scheduled to be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
Australia's best batter and former skipper, Steve Smith is slated to pose a massive challenge to India's bowling attack even though Rohit Sharma's men will be playing in a familiar setting. The stylish right-handed batter made a big statement before departing from Australia for the marquee series, claiming that playing tour games in India is irrelevant.
"We normally have two tour games over in England. This time we don't have a tour game in India," Smith was quoted as saying by news.com.au on Monday ahead of the team's departure to India.
"The last time we went (to India) I'm pretty sure we got served up a green top (to practice on) and it was sort of irrelevant. Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it's likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in," he added.
Australia have been criticised for not including tour games, which are an integral part of a long series, in their itinerary. But Smith said rigorous nets sessions will help spinners train better.
"We're better off having our own nets and getting spinners in and bowling as much as they can." Smith said.
"We'll wait and see when we hit the ground. I think we've made the right decision to not play a tour match. Like I said, last time they dished up a green top for us (in a tour game) and we barely faced any spin, so it's kind of irrelevant," he added.
The upcoming Border-Gavaskar series will be extremely crucial for India as they want to make one final push to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Rohit Sharma's men are currently second on the WTC standings while the Baggy Greens are at the summit.
Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 schedule:
1st Test at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur - February 9-13
2nd Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi - February 17-21
3rd Test at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala - March 1-5
4th Test at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad - March 9-13
India’s squad for the first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
