Border Gavaskar Trophy: India ask for closed practice sessions after 5000 spectators turn up (Express Photo by Sriram Veera)
A day after more than 5000 spectators watched the Rohit Sharma led Indian team practice at the Adelaide Oval ahead of the second Pink Ball Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy starting December 6, it has emerged that the Indian team management has requested for such open training sessions to be stopped. As per a report in The Age, the Indian management have requested Cricket Australia to not allow spectators during their training sessions further in the tour.
“India have expressed a preference for their remaining training sessions not to be open to the public to minimise potential noise or distractions,” a CA spokesperson told The Age on Wednesday.
While the Indian team had their practice sessions at WACA at Perth for some days before training at the Optus Stadium at Perth ahead of the opening Test, the Indian team had arrived in Adelaide after the PM XI match at Canberra. Cricket Australia had earlier shared about similar open sessions as Tuesday for the Test matches at Brisbane and Sydney and these plans seem to be curtailed after this development. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the training sessions are held at outdoor nets located in public space outside the ground in Yarra Park. According to The Age, CA had estimated a crowd between 3,000 and 5,000 to see the training sessions at Adelaide with majority of the crowd being NRIs and Indian origin population. The publication also reported that the BCCI had lengthy discussions with Cricket Australia before agreeing for open training sessions at Adelaide. “It is a tradition at most Australian venues for fans to be allowed to watch training ahead of a Test match, and Cricket Australia held lengthy negotiations with the BCCI before the tourists agreed to the open session in Adelaide,” read the report.
Indian batsman Kl Rahul talked about the experience of training in front of a crowd on Wednesday. “Very different. Not used to it. We have practice with crowds but it’s mostly T20 and ODIs back home, we’ve had crowds come in and watch our practice sessions. So it felt a little different but also it adds to your preparation for the Test match and gives us a bit of what we can expect on day one or all the days here in Adelaide, so it was good.” Rahul told the media on Wednesday.
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