Should India play 1-2 tests against and in Ireland before England tour?

[maniac]

Ireland is a test playing country. We already played Afghanistan another new entrant . Why doesn’t BCCI have such plans?

 

Ireland is a light team but can be somewhat competitive in their home conditions.

 

Conditions will be somewhat similar. So good practice 

 

Stakes are much higher for official tests than A games 

 

Can test bench strength and also no problem if some stars inflate their stats once in a while.

 

We recently saw England benefit from a quick tour to Srilanka.

 

Even in 2012, iirc they played Pakistan in UAE on some atrocious spin pitches before they won in India which is obviously the bigger fortress to conquer.

 

Why doesnt BCCI have such planning, rather than the usual practice games against A sides?

[The Realist]

Other teams have played Ireland even Scotland to get match ready before an Eng series  but good luck with any of that with the dunderheads at the BCCI.

 

They will rock up underprepared and undercooked as usual, play some mickey mouse 15 a side 2 day practice game, get thumped 4-0 in the series and then wish away the defeats on simply losing a few key "moments".

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Yea we shud and give some young guys a chance. 

[PunterLog]

Yes

[Hojoborolo]

Interesting you should mention this. Pakistan played a one-off Test in Ireland (it was competitive in the end -- Pakistan won by 5 wickets on the last day) during their 2018 tour, and went on to draw the series against England.

 

My theory is that it is mainly because India has a lot more to lose. It's all a calculation of market values, etc. A lost series in Australia is no big deal, and if they win (like it happened this time around), all the better. In Ireland, if they win it's no big deal, and if they lose, there is a serious drop in market value for the prima donnas. Also, Irish conditions are like English conditions on steroids, and such conditions are a great leveller. (N.B.: Not really, it's just that they reward skills that are unfashionable nowadays, like metronomic accuracy, solid/compact defensive technique, etc.)

 

Finally, India usually supports Associate nations if they think they can secure additional ICC votes -- first Bangladesh, now Afghanistan. Ireland is a developed country (measured, e.g., by human development index), and at least in sports, they tend to take a more principled stance. Notice how Ireland always championed the Associate cause and the upliftment of Associate cricket as a whole during their (relatively) successful World Cup campaigns -- "putting the World in the World Cup" so to speak (quotation: Cricinfo, 2015 World Cup, following Ireland vs West Indies game). Even after they gained Test status, they have been keen on helping out fellow Associates like Netherlands and Scotland, and campaigning for larger World Cup draws (in my opinion, 2007 World Cup had the best format so far in terms of sporting integrity -- only improvement would be to have quarter finals after the group stages directly). Contrast this with Afghanistan who, once it was clear they were near the top of Associate cricket, have been oddly quiet about the Associate cause -- almost as if they were prostrating themselves in front of the bigger cricket associations, offering their vote at future ICC meetings in exchange for Test status. Of course, for a war-ravaged country, you can forgive them some degree of egoism, but the point stands. Coming back to the original issue at hand, I hope you can now sort of understand why the BCCI is loathe to take any actions which might benefit Irish cricket -- and a Test series against Ireland is definitely high on that list.

[ShoonyaSifar]

This time, the English tour preparation is perfectly planned. 3 practice matches and India A in England at the same time playing unofficial tests. Now if only we only we could have a competent and thinking captain..

[Lone Wolf]

Maybe yes but expect BCCI to schedule some T20s instead.  Even Ireland may push for this coz of the money that brings. 

 

Tbh playing a strong India A is more than a decent preparation plus already got a packed schedule. 

[R!TTER]

5 hours ago, The Realist said:

get thumped 4-0 in the series

Try 5-nil, if Brat is still the captain (almost 100% chance of that unless he knocked missus over a second time) & not in the 2x form of his lifetime then a near whitewash is almost certain.