Opinion: India should play its probable starting XI for Adelaide Test in the practice match

India should treat the four-day warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI as a proper practice match. Instead of giving an opportunity to test the bench strength, India should play its strongest eleven in the practice match.

It’s true that the CA XI does not have any of the players that India is going to face in the test series. It is possibly not even as strong as an Australia A team. But this has been a trend in the last few years when the home teams almost never let the touring sides get to play against their best players before the series.

However, time in the middle is always better than a hit in the nets. India has done the right thing by making it a four-day game instead of a three-day match, thus rectifying the mistake they had made in the England series.

India has unfortunately been a slow-starter in the away series. In South Africa and England, they went down in the first Test and then had to play catch up for the rest of the series, and ultimately failed in that endeavour.

Though some of the players who are in all likelihood to feature in the playing eleven at Adelaide, have spent some quality time in the middle against New Zealand A, it is imperative that they and others who have been playing white ball cricket should get to utilize the opportunity of playing red ball cricket in Australian conditions before the series kicks off at Adelaide.

The quality of the opposition in the practice match may be a couple of notches lower than the one India is going to face in Adelaide, but by taking the warm-up game seriously, they can try and replicate the test match conditions. The batsmen can get acclimatised to the conditions.

Playing in tandem with players with whom they would need to build partnerships in the test series, will be of great help as well.

This is much better than having players in the team who would have no role to play in the Test series, at least in the first match.

Similarly, the best bowling line-up for the Adelaide Test must be given a go in the practice match. If that means decimating the opposition for a paltry score, so be it.

This will bolster the confidence of the bowlers and also serve a warning to the Australian team.

It will be a folly to treat this practice match lightly. That will be a serious waste of a wonderful opportunity.