The South African legend, Jonty Rhodes has come in the support of Australia’s decision of not playing a practice match in India, ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series starting February 9. He also backed the statement by the Australian batter Steve Smith, who said ‘practice games in India are irrelevant’, and called it a ‘smart decision’ made by the visitors.
“I’ve seen the practice pitches in India and it has a lot of footmarks. The main pitch is used for training purpose. These days all the teams play a lot of cricket and turning tracks are not limited to India. It is important how much time you spend there and how much you prepare, this helps you adapt to the conditions,” said Rhodes in an interview with Dainik Jagran.
“I understand what (Steve) Smith wanted to say. He knows the practice pitches will be greener and match will be played on the training pitch and Australia took a very smart decision. Players are playing all around the world and they have evolved into smart cricketers,” he further added.
India and Australia will be facing each other in Four Match Test series in Border Gavaskar Trophy from 9th February.
