Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25: Abhishek Nayar, Morne Morkel happy with Indian cricket team’s match simulation sessions

Hyderabad: Indian cricket team’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar and bowling coach Morne Morkel were happy with the results of the match simulation sessions the Indian team underwent at the WACA Ground in Perth ahead of the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The Indian team’s core group and think-tank scrapped a four-day game between the Indian cricket team and the India A team and chose to focus on training sessions and the match simulation.

The match simulation was held on the centre wicket at the WACA Ground and the wicket, in all likelihood, is a replica of what the Indian team could be greeted with at the Optus Stadium where the first Test match begins on November 22.

The Indian team will shift their training sessions from the WACA ground to the Optus Stadium from Tuesday and will have three sessions at the Optus Stadium before the marquee Test series commence.

The focus was on getting acclimatised with the conditions and the support staff were happy with how the Indian players made use of the sessions. “Just before we came to Australia, Gautam (Gambhir), Rohit (Sharma) and we discussed what we wanted out of these three days, and the idea was to try and make sure that one, for the younger guys and also the experienced guys, to give them a lot of time in the centre to adapt, to understand conditions. We are coming and playing Test cricket (in Australia) after four years. So initially, we got the guys to come in and had it like a game where you got out, if you got out, you got out. But then, we tried to give them another chance, and we felt that the second time around, the guys adapted better, they understood the conditions better, and were a lot more comfortable. We got what we wanted out of it,” Nayar said in a video released by the BCCI.

The assistant coach added that the second day was all about the bowlers getting used to the conditions. “Day two was quite similar, where we then also were using the facilities outside, getting the nets in, the quantity and the quality down in the centre. Day two was about our bowlers coming in and bowling spells, getting up the workloads, bowling 15 overs each,” he added.

Nayar said the whole idea of the session was to get the players to ease into the simulation and get used to bowling long spells. “You know, Bumrah bowled 18 (overs), a couple of others bowled 18. So, it is just more about getting guys into the game sense,” he added.

The Indian team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel concurred with Nayar and said he was satisfied with the outcome of the sessions. “I am very happy with how the bowlers went. They summed up conditions very well. Yeah, I think we are on track for the 22nd. So, another three training sessions left,” Morkel said.

The bowling coach added that the think-tank would start their planning and strategising for the first Test match either on Monday or Tuesday. “We will sit down this afternoon (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday) and start planning, looking at game plans and how we are going to bring out the best and edge in everyone for game time on 22nd,” he added.