"Intra-squad is a joke" - Sunil Gavaskar criticizes India for not playing practice games before 1st Test vs South Africa

Sunil Gavaskar has criticized India for not playing practice matches against local teams before the first Test against South Africa.

The Proteas annihilated the visitors by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test in Centurion on Thursday, December 28. While Rohit Sharma and company were bundled out for 245 and 131 in their two innings, the hosts posted a mammoth 408 runs in the only innings they played.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gavaskar was asked about the reasons behind India's crushing loss, to which he responded:

"The reasons are straightforward - you didn't play any matches here. If you straightaway play Test matches, it doesn't work out. Yes, you sent the India A team. The India A team should actually come before the tour."

The former India skipper added:

"You need to play practice matches after coming here. Intra-squad is a joke because would your fast bowlers bowl extremely fast to your batters, would they bowl bouncers, as they would be scared about injuring their batters."

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were the only Indian batters to put up a fight in the Centurion Test. While Rahul scored a battling century in the first innings, Kohli played a 76-run knock in the second essay.

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"Remove the 'workload' word from Indian cricket's dictionary" - Sunil Gavaskar

The Indian batters were found wanting against pace and bounce. [P/C: AP]

Sunil Gavaskar believes workload management shouldn't come into the picture during or ahead of a Test series. He said:

"So it's better to play against the South Africa A team or play two or three matches against a county or a state. The schedule that is made these days, where you play only Test matches with a gap of seven days in between - remove the 'workload' word from Indian cricket's dictionary."

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted the significance of practice games for the inexperienced players, elaborating:

"Nothing happens to senior cricketers. They will play the second, third and fourth match even if they fail. Practice matches are necessary for the young players. If you want, you can ask your senior players to come at ease, they can come a day before the Test match, but you need to arrange practice matches for the young players."

Gavaskar termed India's defeat in the first Test against South Africa an embarrassing loss. He added that the application and fight required were missing.