New Delhi: Indian cricket team's strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai feels that the national team often participates in big tournaments straight away but a training camp ahead of the T20 World Cup will go a long way in helping players adapt to the Australian conditions.
India participated in their first practice session on Friday. The Men in Blue will play two warm-up matches on October 10 and 13 in Perth before moving to Brisbane where it is scheduled to participate in the warm-up matches organized by the ICC. Rohit Sharma & Co. will kick off their World Cup campaign with a match against arch-nemesis Pakistan in Melbourne on 23rd October.
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In a video shared by BCCI, Desai said, "The upcoming 8-10 days are going to be very crucial for us, leading into the World Cup. We can't thank the team management and the BCCI enough for getting us these 8 days because, we always feel we are thrust into the big tournaments, playing so much cricket as the Indian team. But these 8 days, we are going to gradually build ourselves both physically and on the skills front, to lead us nicely into the first game in the World Cup."
When asked why team India opted to choose Perth specifically, Desai said, "The goal in Perth specifically is to get some time on these pitches as well as to break the monotony of playing the bilateral series, back to back in India. So it's going to be a good time for the group to unwind as well build on the specific skills that are required for Australia. That's the overall plan, leading into the World Cup."